American Fiction, 2023
Written and Directed by Cord Jefferson.
Starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown, Myra Lucretia Taylor, John Ortiz, Issa Rae, Adam Brody, Skyler Wright, John Ales, Patrick Fischler, Carmen Cusack, Joseph Marrella, Stephen Burrell, Ryan Richard Doyle. Dustin Tucker, Michael Jibrin, David De Beck, Okieriete Onaodowan, Keith David, Miriam Shor, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Greta Quispe, J. C. MacKenzie, Elle Sciore, Neal Lerner, Jenn Harris, Bates Wilder, Michael Cyril Creighton, Celeste Oliva, Megan Robinson, Christopher Barrow, Alexander Pobutsky, and Tokunbo Joshua Olumide.
SYNOPSIS:
Author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is peeved because his latest offering hasn’t caught fire with publishers, while a tome called We’s Lives in Da Ghetto by Sintara Golden hits the bestseller lists, leaving Monk seething.
Aiming to interrogate how, why, and what Black stories are told and which ones rise to prominence within various mainstream entertainment mediums, writer/director Cord Jefferson’s (mostly known for TV credits such as Watchmen and The Good Place, making his feature-length film debut here) American Fiction (based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett) is a hysterical farce with a delightful, uproarious turn from Jeffrey Wright.
Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a talented, self-absorbed, and possibly pretentious author/English professor struggling to get his serious-minded work picked up and read by audiences (especially white ones) seemingly only concerned with lapping up Black narratives centered on the usual topics such as gang violence, broken homes, teenage moms, police brutality, poverty porn, and more, often told through street lingo and English which he finds demeaning. His head may as well have started spinning upon coming across a new bestseller and its author, Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), embracing those clichés. Furthermore, she seems intelligent, diametrically contradicting the image Monk projects onto these writers.
That’s also not to dismiss Monk’s justifiable frustrations. When a passage from the book is read aloud, it’s difficult to deny that it sounds like a goofy amalgamation of all Black storytelling clichés, even if something in it resonates with its readers. It is also acknowledged that consumers gravitate toward what they know and what they find comforting, even if it is a bummer that they don’t have adventurous taste. I’m sure many of us have some Monk in us, wishing people, and not just speaking about Black narratives, would go outside their damn comfort zone and take a chance on something unique or artsy that they might enjoy (which makes it fitting that American Fiction has played several festivals, including winning the Toronto Audience Award.)
Flabbergasted and currently in need of money to provide treatment for his mother’s (Leslie Uggams) Alzheimer’s while still grieving the sudden death of his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), Monk creates an alias and pens a similar novel bursting with Black clichés and a ridiculous title. Initially, he sets out on this ludicrous experiment to see if those same white publishers rejecting him would want to purchase the rights to this novel, only to find out he has written something that has struck a chord with them, willing to pay him a fortune, which then sends the book into the hands of many white critics perhaps slightly misguided in their ecstatic reaction, using buzzwords like “important” and “raw,” which then presumably plays a part convincing waves of Black and white guilt readers to purchase it and instantly fall in love with a type of story.
American Fiction seems to be getting at a questionable cycle here that doesn’t actually help get works from exciting, diverse voices published or promoted and sought after but instead reinforces stereotypes. Then again, maybe the consumers are boring and refuse to pursue something new. The other amusing dynamic at play here is that while Monk criticizes most of these books as coming across as false, his disastrous life on-screen is intentionally comprised of several other narrative clichés that unquestionably feel like an overstuffed corny movie.
There is the dying mother, the dead sister, family trauma, a gay brother (Sterling K. Brown stealing every scene he pops up in), a romantic subplot, the meteoric rise to fame, and financial conquest under the alias (which also sees Jeffrey Wright altering his voice to play an ignorant white man’s interpretation of a hardened Black criminal who was once imprisoned), all making for a helping of sitcom style drama that works considering the points the film is trying to make about reality and fiction.
There are some elements the filmmakers fail to hide, leading to a predictable reveal and a rather abrupt ending. One also can’t help but feel certain scenes try to force laughter too hard (such as a sequence where Monk imagines the characters in his book interacting that falls flat.) Also, as much as there is to admire about dedicating a sizable chunk of the narrative to family drama and these characters, it’s nowhere near as compellingly outrageous as when Jeffrey Wright is playing white people like a fiddle as the type of Black author they want to read.
At one point, Monk finds himself on an awards voting committee alongside his Black rival and two other white judges, who go on to dismiss their thoughts while expressing that they want to listen to and reward Black creatives. It’s a brilliantly sharp, absurd satire that American Fiction succeeds at, with Jeffrey Wright killing every line reading.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
