Pretty women wonder where my secret lies

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Movies of 2020...

#21 : Miss Juneteenth

Shame’s Nicole Beharie stars as a former beauty queen hoping that her daughter can repeat her triumph – primarily to gain the prize of a potentially life-changing college scholarship.

Another one I've heard of - that's two in a row!  Will miracles never cease?!?  This one was on my "I'd like to see this - but let's be realistic, it's never going to happen is it?" list - but it is going to happen!  I'm expecting a film of strong performances in the face of adversity (hopefuly just in the storyline, not real adversity!) - so let's see if expectations are met.

And 10 minutes in, it's obviously going to be a very fine looking film but I'd have to say my cliche alarms are starting to chime.  You've got the single mother who didn't fulfil her potential and wants to make up for her mistakes through her daughter (Turqouise), you've got the daughter who doesn't appreciate those efforts and just wants to live her life (Kai), you've got the mysterious man from her past who's going to turn out to be either a rough diamond or bad news (Ronnie) and you've got the sassy best friend (Betty Ray).  Tick, tick, tick, tick!  It is one very fine looking film though - beautifully shot and lit - but I worry that it's going to be a bit of a drag plotwise.

But I'm pleased to report I got through it all without too much draggage - I think it's fair to say that nothing completely unexpected occurs, but given that a load of previous films on this list have completely lacked believable plot or characters, the presence of both here was a very pleasant change.  And the finale of the film doesn't offer any surprises at all, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy the ride on the old emotional rollercoaster.

It's well acted throughout, but obviously hangs on Nicole Beharie and Alexis Chikaeze as the Turquoise and Kai - and they both put in strong performances, particularly Nicole Beharie, who conveys both strength and world-weariness expertly.  It's Channing Godfrey Peoples' (the director) first film and there's a lot to speak highly of - it's certainly beautifully shot throughout.

Overall, I enjoyed the film - I can't say it really spoke to me in terms of relevant life experiences, but that's absolutely fine because it totally wasn't trying to.  I can't therefore claim how realistic it all was, but I am at least more knowledgeable about Juneteenth now, so it's not been a wasted exercise (although some of the stuff around Miss Juneteenth seems particularly odd).  It's also good to see a film with a very strong black representation - I could say that it was unfortunate that the one white character I remember was just there to be mean, but I suspect any such complaint would be drowned out by laughter (and perfectly reasonably so).

At the time of writing, the film is on Sky and available to rent on most of the other usual channels - it's not a film to set the world on fire, but it's a good story which is well acted and shot and there are far worse things you could spend your time on.

#22 - An enjoyably odd film
#20 - Fascinating, disturbing and boring