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Theres no dialogue in this brief moment.
Instead, Beharie shows us what we need to know.
The stakes in some ways may seem low.
Will Kai win the pageant?
Will the relationship between Kai and Turquoise break under the strain of the complications between them?
Will Turquoise choose love with the men before her or a different track entirely?
But Peoples treats her characters with a sincerity that gives them heft.
Juneteenth is a holiday with regional specificity.
(At one point, on Kais 15th birthday, their electricity is cut off.
)Miss Juneteenthisnt trying to make grand proclamations about what it means to be Black in America today.
The film is too smart for such grandstanding.
Turquoises romantic life is tangled in history and wanting, from which beauty and intelligence still cant protect her.
Such a storyline could lead down a dark path, where the relationship fractures irreparably.
ButMiss Juneteenthis more interested in reaffirming the beauty of mutual care and recognition above all else.
What anchors the film, undoubtedly, is Nicole Beharie.
Her physicality is steady, slow, measured.
Her voice is softly Southern in its disposition.
Her gaze is weighted by a history that shines in her every movement and word.
