American Fiction: a New Classic
American Fiction is worth all of the hype. It is layered, complex, and told with clarity and humor. This is one of my favorite films this year. American Fiction is based on the book Erasure (written by Percival Everett). The screenplay was written by Cord Jefferson, who also directed this film perfectly. Turns out that I’ve loved Cord Jefferson’s work before I knew his name. He’s written on some of my favorite TV shows, Station Eleven, Succession, and The Good Place, and now he has crafted one of my favorite films of the year, American Fiction.
Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright, WESTWORLD) is a writer/college professor exhausted by the publishing world, which only views him as their perception of a “Black” writer. Monk ends up going home to Boston to deal with his family. Monk reconnects with his sister Lisa (Trace Ellis Ross, Black’ish), his brother Clifford (Sterling K. Brown, This is Us), and his mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams, Deadpool). When the family spends time at their beach home on Martha’s Vineyard, Monk meets his neighbor Coraline (Erika Alexander, Living Single). As his life unfolds, Monk is inspired to write the kind of book he would never be caught reading as his life unfolds.
The beauty of this satire is that the story is grounded in reality. I believed every moment I experienced on screen and what happened on screen happens to Black folks IRL every damn day of our lives in America when we are around white people. There are some big issues tackled in the film: caste, race, gender, eldercare, Black women’s health, romantic relationships, and homophobia, yet it’s all done without hitting the audience over the head with “issues”. This slice-of-life film about Black people shows sections of Black communities that we don’t see in cinema often, the middle class. I loved how we see generations of Black women have always been there to build up Monk and be a loving force of good in his life. I loved that there is generational wealth, and everyone in the film is a professional with a college education. The film also gives a fantastic and honest showing of how homophobia lives in the fabric of Black communities, no matter what social class the family is in. American Fiction is one of the best films I’ve seen, period because it shows how Black people coexist with toxic whiteness as we deal with the things that everyone deals with in life. Dealing with our elderly parents, divorce, illness, financial challenges, how different family members deal with a queer member of the family, and so much more.
I absolutely loved this film. It’s funny and poignant without being traumatizing. The The cast is incredible. Every moment was believable, and every actor was well cast. I loved the relationship that evolved between Monk and Coraline. Middle-aged Black Love!! Dynamite.
By the way, as I left the Angelika Film Center, where I saw the film the day before opening day, I overheard a group of white people discussing the film, acting like they were superior to the white people they saw on screen. There weren’t any Black folks in the group. Art imitates life.
Don’t miss American Fiction; it’s fantastic. It’s certified fresh, 5 out of 5 tomatoes.
Stay safe, J9.
