Director: Cord Jefferson | Writer: Cord Jefferson
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Erika Alexander
American Fiction is a book adapted for the screen, but by a first time screenwriter who also happens to be a first time director. That his debut at both attempts should receive this much Oscar buzz is a tremendous triumph, but his inexperience is also the reason why this film is so imperfect. The theme, and most of how that is presented to us, is very strong and very well thought out. But I think it fails to reach the level of “one of the best of the year” by a fairly wide margin, despite a stellar performance from Wright and equal support from Brown.
Author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison has lost what little magic he found in his career, teaching now and not writing, not anything worthwhile anyway. He’s aging, his family back home is in crisis, and he never launched a family of his own because, basically, he’s an unhappy grump. Part of what he’s angry about is the state of Black writers, and how all America wants is for them to be as dark as possible, writing about the ghetto, the street, drugs, murders, etc. And so he decides to write some trash himself, about the “Black Experience” that he never had, using all the dumb slang that White people think must be essential to every African American man’s coming of age. When the book becomes an overnight sensation, Monk will have to deal with what he’s done, and figure out what he’s going to do next.
This concept is fabulous; Monk wants to be taken seriously, he’s talented, but his books aren’t magic, or possibly all the public wants to hear from him are stories they’ve already decided are the only ones he’s qualified to tell. Forget that his family has a beach house, his brother is a plastic surgeon, his sister is a doctor, his mother is a proper lady with a housekeeper. The film examines not just stereotypes but what the result of those stereotypes can be, and it does it in such a funny, heartfelt way that you feel like you’re a part of Monk’s existence and his pain. What I didn’t like was the pacing and the ending, both of which I think reflect on an amateur filmmaker. It seemed like the movie was out of his hands a bit, blundering out of his control, when he needed to grab it and tell it what to do. What we love about first-timers are their fresh ideas, but what we award first-timers for are the films that shock us with their perfection and poise. American Fiction is quite good, but it’s not polished, and it’s not Oscar-caliber.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆