AMERICAN FICTION
2023 | Dir. Cord Jefferson | 117 Minutes
2023 | Dir. Cord Jefferson | 117 Minutes
"Whole soaring narratives about Black folks in dire circumstances who still manage to maintain their dignity before they die. I mean, I'm not saying these things aren't real, but we're also more than this."
Fed up with deeply flawed but profitable portrayals of African Americans and his own lack of recognition, opinionated English professor and struggling novelist Thelonious "Monk" Ellison writes a satirical "Black" novel under a pseudonym to amuse himself. Unexpectedly, Monk's new book is an immediate success despite his best efforts to sabotage its publication. However, as one crisis after another strikes Monk's family, he must choose between his personal sense of integrity and financial stability.
Adapted from Percival Everett's novel Erasure, Cord Jefferson's American Fiction is a razor-sharp comedy that amusingly deconstructs the rather tired and oftentimes ignorant tropes of marketable African American narratives. The picture criticizes representation in media that leans into stereotypes ranging from frustratingly worn-out to outright offensive through the perspective of a talented and outspoken main character. The most intriguing aspect of the story is that the protagonist carries his own unique personal struggles and deep-seated flaws that no broad generalization would be able to capture, and within the specific lies the genuinely relatable qualities of the character.
While American Fiction unfolds from Monk's point of view, the film decidedly does not portray him as an infallible paragon, but instead encourages the audience to question Monk's biases and to think critically for themselves. The writer's pretentiousness and petty judgmental attitude prove to be significant obstacles that he doesn't quite overcome by the time the credits roll. Monk's resentment ultimately costs him his love interest, his inherent bias towards another Black writer is directly challenged by the novelist herself in one excellent scene, he is the last in his family to discover the father he idolized was not a faithful husband, and he ultimately sells out for profit albeit reluctantly out of desperate financial need. While the story's various subplots either lack substantial closure or resolve in ways without completing conventional narrative arcs, the lack of neat and tidy resolution serves to add realism to the picture as a whole as well as reflect ongoing conversations around representation that will never be resolved completely.
In the role of Monk, Jeffrey Wright is brilliant as the frustrated intellectual making bad art on a lark, hilariously balancing charisma and snobbery. John Ortiz makes for an affable pragmatic voice of reason playing Monk's publisher Arthur. As love interest Coraline, Erika Alexander is affable and capably presents a reasonable counterpoint to Monk's resentment for general audiences. Sterling K. Brown delivers an incredibly funny scene-stealing performance as Monk's newly-divorced perpetually drug-addled brother Cliff. The supporting cast also features Tracee Ellis Ross as Monk's humorously sardonic sister Lisa and Issa Rae as the successful novelist Sintara Golden and subject of Monk's ire.
American Fiction dissects the value of flawed representation while cleverly weaving a funny, challenging, and heartbreaking yarn. Rather boldly, the film elects to not offer any measure of resolution. One could argue that its lack of closure imbues the film with invaluable authenticity.
- Always fun to see Keith David in a film however minor the role
007 CONNECTIONS
Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and No Time To Die)
007 CONNECTIONS
Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and No Time To Die)
- Leslie Uggams (Blind Al in Deadpool 3)
