Miss Juneteenth – A Touching Yet Shallow Story

Miss Juneteenth follows the mother-daughter duo of a woman named Turquoise Jones (Beharie) and her daughter Kai (Chikaeze) and their tough relationship as Turquoise (A former Miss Juneteenth winner) embarks to prepare her rebellious daughter for the next Miss Juneteenth pageant. Right away, it is important to recognize these types of films as important and informative, as they embrace the powerful real life holiday of Juneteenth. However, this context alone does not make up for the film’s unfortunately lacklustre storytelling. Although it’s heart may be in the right place, the film barely evolves from a simplistic beginning middle and end story thanks to a weak and unintriguing screenplay.

While the performances of Miss Juneteenth were fine, the weak screenplay did not leave many opportunities for character development. One character arc that does stand out from the others’ however, was that of Beharie’s Turquoise. Unfortunately, for Chikaeze’s Kai, she merely came off as bland and lacking any character development whatsoever. The film seemingly goes out of its way to depict her as a rebellious teenager, however, her it never goes beyond mere inferences while asking viewers to fill in far too many gaps. Nothing she does in the film is arguably rebellious in any fashion. This missing character development essentially makes it impossible to form any meaningful emotional connection to the character and the story.

The lack of development makes Turquoise and Kai’s journey over the course of Miss Juneteenth not quite as engaging to watch as it could have been. Jumping from subplot to subplot, viewers will likely find themselves becoming disengaged. The lack of buildup to the film’s inevitable climax lessens its eventual impact as the film makes no effort to show the significance of the pageant, surely leading viewers to ask themselves why. For the most part, the film feels like a hangout movie which is odd in retrospect as it should be the furthest thing from that. When it does try to create some tension, it is inconsistent at best. At other times, the narrative was unfocused and disjointed, often choosing to cut to a completely different subplot. As a result, the narrative never fully reaches its true potential, leading the narrative to drag despite its short runtime.

If anything, Miss Juneteenth proves that writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples definitely has potential and is someone worth keeping an eye on. Her signature directing style was well done as the film itself looks very in touch with its overall tone. Despite the film’s lacklustre elements there were still plenty signs of promise. At the end of the day, although it is somewhat informative on the importance of the Juneteenth holiday, the film’s weak story and characters suggests that viewers may be better off just reading online about Juneteenth or perhaps checking out the the 13th on Netflix instead.

still courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

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Jaeden Noel