Miss Juneteenth
Vertical Entertainment | Release Date (Streaming): June 19, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 18, 2020
In her remarkable, warm, and sometimes delicately sad debut feature, writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples sees both sides of this intergenerational struggle. What's truly special is that she avoids any histrionics. Ever since James Dean screamed "You're tearing me apart," filmmakers have craved that emotional explosion, but Peoples paints life in this Black working class Fort Worth neighborhood in softer tones. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 18, 2020
Miss Juneteenth’s brilliance is in its subtlety. Read full review
80
The GuardianEllen E JonesSep 28, 2020
For anyone who values diverse storytelling, Peoples’ portrait of a hardworking woman on the up is a tale of hopefulness – and a reason to hope in itself. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeSep 28, 2020
Miss Juneteenth is a beautifully observed and quietly powerful drama that applies its coming-of-age tropes to children, parents and politics alike. Read full review
80
EmpireCorrina AntrobusSep 21, 2020
A search for freedom and a sororal spirit pulse through Miss Juneteenth. Calmly navigating the intersections of a Black, working-class, American woman, Peoples ensures care, heart and hope are in every step. Read full review
80
Time OutZach LongAug 24, 2020
The film’s release after weeks of Black Lives Matter protests may be coincidental, but Miss Juneteenth rises to the moment. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienJun 19, 2020
Miss Juneteenth is a film defined by its gentle beauty and simplicity. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 18, 2020
The writer-director Channing Godfrey Peoples, making her feature debut, has a deft way with understatement, and here she casts an affectionate, gently ambivalent eye on the traditions and rituals that have long held sway in a small Fort Worth community. Read full review
80
The New York TimesLovia GyarkyeJun 18, 2020
Instead of just depicting the myriad ways black women carry their communities, the movie goes further to explore how these women and black girls support each other in a world that often fails them. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 17, 2020
Fort Worth native Channing Godfrey Peoples, making a striking feature debut as director and screenwriter, knows this place in her bones. She’s crafted a keenly observant and emotionally resonant debut film that feels authentically lived in. Read full review
78
TheWrapSteve PondJun 22, 2020
As the story of a mother and daughter, Miss Juneteenth benefits from subtle, offhand performances from Beharie and Chikaeze; as a portrait of a community, it’s layered and rich. Not a lot happens, really, but in its modesty the story packs a lovely punch. Read full review
75
The PlaylistJoi ChildsJun 19, 2020
Ultimately, Miss Juneteenth is a reminder that dreams don’t have to die. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 19, 2020
Cinematographer Daniel Patterson makes us feel the steam of humid Texas nights, but he also has an eye for the unexpected, romantic moments in Turq’s life: the moody pink-and-blue lighting during an after-hours slow dance, the glow of birthday candles in a darkened kitchen or the unvarnished warmth of mother and daughter sitting side-by-side outside the decaying restaurant. Read full review
75
CNNBrian LowryJun 19, 2020
It's also a terrific showcase for star Nicole Beharie. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 18, 2020
It’s the most touching dramedy about young women battling over a sash since “Little Miss Sunshine.” Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 18, 2020
Beharie is a tremendous actress, and Miss Juneteenth offers her a complex and nuanced role to prove her range. Peoples visually creates a rich tapestry of place, offering a peek into this world and filling it with believable characters, while carefully threading the historical and cultural significance of Juneteenth throughout. Daniel Patterson's cinematography is remarkable: beautiful, and with an easy, authentic groove. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkJun 18, 2020
Invigorating in many passages, the drama offers a few twists on a fragmented mother-daughter relationship. If anything, the film announces the arrival of an indie filmmaker to watch for in the coming years. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJun 17, 2020
At its heart, Miss Juneteenth is about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, which Peoples brings to the screen with a subtlety that’s very true to life. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 17, 2020
Miss Juneteenth is a simple story but a resonant one: modest but impactful, focused on one woman’s pride and her daughter’s future while unfolding in the bedrock of a known and loved environment. You can feel the history coming up through its pores. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCary DarlingJun 16, 2020
Miss Juneteenth, a Texas-shot film appropriately made available to stream on Friday, June 19 — the date of Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States — is a rich story of broken dreams, family struggle and emotional triumph that puts black Texas women in the center of the frame. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 19, 2020
It’s not just the story of a mother and daughter, but a tapestry of a whole community. Peoples, who grew up in the Fort Worth area herself, has filled her movie with characters and details that feel lived in. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 18, 2020
Imbued with a lovely sense of place and community, this is a low-key film, leisurely perhaps to a fault and dramatically a tad too mellow, though observed with a keen eye for the small details of ordinary lives that elevates the material. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 18, 2020
Despite the strong performances and meticulously crafted world they exist inside, the film’s narrative isn’t nearly revelatory enough to match its most winning elements. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyMarc BernardinJun 18, 2020
Beharie remains a powerful performer, able to convey multitudes with subtlety, even if Miss Juneteenth never makes a move you didn’t see coming a mile down that country road. Read full review
67
UproxxVince ManciniJun 18, 2020
Miss Juneteenth is a promising debut feature in a lot of ways, but like a lot of tweener indies, it has trouble transcending its own pitch. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveyJun 18, 2020
Miss Juneteenth richly captures the slow pace of ebbing small-town Texas life, even if you might wish there were a bit more narrative momentum to pick up the slack in writer-director Channing Godfrey Peoples’ first feature. Read full review
49
Paste MagazineShannon HoustonJun 25, 2020
When Miss Juneteenth isn’t trafficking in tropes, it’s a history lesson, and not the entertaining kind where you forget you’re actually learning; the textbook kind. Read full review
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