Miss Juneteenth

Miss Juneteenth opens on Turquoise in a nostalgic mood as she carefully removes her pageant crown from its special box and holds up her winning dress. Kai can finally follow in her footsteps, and even though the very next scene shows Turquoise scrubbing a filthy toilet at the hole-in-the-wall bar where she works, nothing can dampen her mood -- not even Kai's lack of enthusiasm about entering the competition. Turquoise keeps gamely pushing the rock up the hill, convinced that the prize of a full scholarship to one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will give her daughter the opportunities she never had growing up. Sacrifices are made: She puts down a deposit for a custom-altered dress even as her power is turned off, finding the money for Kai's pageant fees by taking on extra shifts doing makeup at the local funeral home.

It's hard to watch her struggle -- and even harder to see how her own poverty conspires against her, how cars break down and expenses crop up. Even though Turquoise saves everything she can, she just can't get ahead. The day she wore the crown and walked the stage, she tells her unimpressed daughter, she felt like she was walking into a new life. But even though beauty queendom gave Turquoise minor bragging rights in a not-always-glamorous life, her win was no magic path to a shining future. And all of her glittering dreams for Kai are keeping her from seeing her very real daughter, who has dreams of her own. Their lives may not be perfect, and there's no fairy godmother who'll wave a wand and take them away. But slowly, realistically, Turquoise begins to understand that what's truly most valuable in her life is a genuine relationship with her daughter -- and so she takes steps to ensure a happier future for both of them, no crown required.