Miss Juneteenth (2020, Unrated)

I have been waiting so long for this movie to come onto streaming, and it’s finally on Netflix! Since falling completely in love with Nicole Beharie’s performance as Abbie Mills on Sleepy Hollow, I’ve wanted to see more of her, but while I’ve seen her in a few other roles, I haven’t found anything really substantial. So when I heard about this movie, I was immediately interested!

As a teenager, Turquoise Jones won the local Miss Juneteenth pageant. She’d thought it was going to be the start of big things in her life, but years later, she’s working in a bar, taking on side gigs to make ends meet, and chafes a little at the Miss Juneteenth reminders. But it’s the first year her daughter Kai is old enough for the pageant, and Turquoise is determined to help Kai win the opportunities she’d wanted for herself at that age, even though Kai wants nothing to do with it.

This is a beautifully done indie film. The story takes its time, but it never feels aimless, and its modest cast of characters is drawn effectively and well. I like that Turquoise and Kai’s relationship is so difficult, but in a way that really feels genuine. After her own struggles and disappointments in life, Turquoise is fixated on giving her daughter better opportunities, so much so that she’s not listening to what Kai actually wants. She works extra shifts and still chooses pageant fees over the electric bill. To her, the pageant is hard work that will pay off with a scholarship—which Kai will actually get to use, where Turquoise couldn’t—and so, with the best of intentions, she tries to fit Kai into a box that clearly makes her uncomfortable.

Turquoise is doing the most, and it’s misguided, but it’s still out of love. In turn, Kai can be sulky and uncooperative, and she argues with her mom and gets embarrassed by how much Turquoise gets in her business. But despite the clashes between them, Kai very obviously loves her mom too, and I appreciate that the film doesn’t just show us conflict that won’t resolve until the very end. Their relationship ebbs and flows—disappointments and squabbles drift into fun moments and sweetness. There are times when one recognizes they need to give the other grace, and even though they spend a lot of the movie in opposition to one another’s goals, both are ultimately trying to do their best.

It's a very human story, fleshed out by small details at every turn. You get a feel for who each character is and understand where they’re coming from. I just love watching how it culminates in the final act.

Nicole Beharie gives a splendid, utterly natural performance as Turquoise. She really embodies this character—a fighter who’s spent much of her life getting pushed down by her experiences, a mom who’s just trying to hold it all together, and a former beauty queen who’s haunted by her “wasted potential.” Alexis Chikaeze, who plays Kai, is just terrific. She keeps up with Beharie in their scenes together, and she imbues the character with a lot of honesty. The film also features Kendrick Sampson, who I remember as Nathan on Insecure.

Warnings

Sexual content, language, brief violence, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.

The Book of Rannells: Invincible: Season 2, Episode 7 – “I’m Not Going Anywhere” (2024)

Penultimate episode of the season! Peeking at IMDb, it’s also the last episode with Andrew Rannells in it, so it’ll be my last Invincible review for now. It’s a good one, although it of course ends with quite a bit unresolved going into the finale.

Mark is still trying to get the elements of his ordinary life back on track after his two-month hiatus in space, and what he’s struggling with the most is his relationship with Amber. He’s anxious to figure out how to prioritize her and not be a “bad boyfriend” while also balancing his responsibilities as Invincible. Rick is having a hard time adjusting after his traumatic experiences last season, and he’s still dealing with the GDA “putting [him] back together] afterwords. William, desperate to help him, reaches out to a GDA agent for assistance. An unexpected visitor throws a dangerous wrench into everything.

The Mark-Amber plot is well done, although pretty much any time those two have issues, my “Black Midgame Love Interest” spidey senses start tingling. In this episode, both of them are aware that their relationship isn’t in a great place, and neither knows how to fix it. In a lovely scene, Mark winds up talking to his mom about it, trying to imagine her early dating experience with Nolan and what that was like for her.

Oh, and there’s a scene where Mark and Amber go on a date at Comic-Con. Which, one, neat. Two, Mark has to deal with seeing Invincible cosplayers running around. And three, we get a fun bit of meta where Mark is meeting one of his comic book heroes, and they get to talking about how animated superhero shows “cut corners” in subdued scenes to save their resources for the big fight sequences. Hee!

I won’t get into the details of the unexpected visitor, but this character tests Mark both physically and emotionally, and he has to dig deep to make his stand. Throughout their scenes together, I also like the dynamic of Cecil in Mark’s earpiece, trying to guide him from afar.

This time around, Andrew Rannells does get some nice material to work with, even if it’s fairly short. While he’s not really the focus of his scenes, William provides lovely support for Rick, and he does a good job as a college student trying to deal with a situation that’s way over his head. Seeking help from Donald at the GDA turns out to be the best thing William could do, because unbeknownst to him, Donald has been dealing with his own issues this season that are very similar to what Rick is going through.

Side note: the villain that hurt Rick last season was voiced by Eza Miller, but this season, he’s been replaced by voice actor Eric Bauza (who just so happens to be the current voice of Bugs Bunny,) which is great to see hear!

Relationship Spotlight: Barbie & Gloria (Barbie)

*Spoilers.*

I watched Barbie again recently and was reminded how much I enjoy these two. Whether you ship it or not, their relationship is something special.

Barbie has been acting strangely. She can’t stop thinking about death, her heels are touching the ground, and imperfections have been intruding on her perfect world. She’s sent to the Real World to find the girl who’s playing with her, the only way to fix things—only it all goes wrong. Sasha wants nothing to do with her and reads her the riot act.

Then Sasha’s mom picks her up from school and hears her talking about the “reality-challenged” woman who thinks she’s Barbie. And Gloria isn’t thrown by that for longer than a second. As she looks out and sees Barbie getting into one of the black Mattel trucks, she doesn’t question it. That’s Barbie. Of course it’s Barbie.

What Gloria doesn’t know yet, though, is that it’s her Barbie. Sasha’s Barbie that she’s been nostalgically, sadly playing with on her own, using as inspiration for her drawings. Feeling the distance that’s grown between her and Sasha, Gloria has been trying to recapture the magic of that easier time, when Sasha was little and they had fun together. She doesn’t know how her own sadness has been affecting Barbie.

She just knows she has to go after her. Even though I twigged it before the reveal, I love the simultaneous realization between Barbie and Gloria, that, “I came here for you.” I love that Barbie’s troubles are tied to the sad, weird mom that she’s become entangled with, and I love that Gloria believes and understands all of this. Granted, Mattel is fully aware of Barbie Land and knows that dolls have crossed into the Real World before, but Gloria doesn’t seem to have known that. While the discovery of this magic hits her like a brick wall, she believes in it, because she needs magic.

I really like that both Barbie and Gloria have such a delightful time on their trip back to Barbie Land, complete with singing along to the Indigo Girls. As Gloria says, she never gets to do anything for herself, and she relishes her long-overdue chance to have silly fun while wearing fabulous outfits. And when they arrive at Barbie Land and discover the Ken takeover, when Barbie freaks out and gives up, Gloria doesn’t turn her back on her. Sasha may think that Barbie has just validated all her judgments about the doll, but Gloria doesn’t write her off. Despite how wildly different their life experiences have been, Gloria recognizes that Barbie is going through something that’s completely beyond her conception, but she also believes that Barbie has it in her to step up and face it.

Barbie goes on her wild journey to the Real World because she wants to put everything back the way it’s “supposed” to be. She’s always just wanted things to stay the same, and the thought of change and unpredictability terrifies her. But over the course of her adventure—and most crucially, through getting to know Gloria—she learns how to embrace just that. By the end of the film, she’s decided that being human is what she really wants, and that wouldn’t have happened if her journey had been a matter of finding the sad little girl playing with her and figuring out how to make her happy again. The story is so much better for Gloria’s place in it, and both characters become better through knowing one another.