One of the opening scenes in this comedy is like catnip to culture warriors. The main character, who’s a teacher, is confronted by a student over the use of offensive words in the literature of the American South. The teacher, who’s Black, tells the white student, ”With all due respect, I got over it, I’m pretty sure you can too”. She can’t and leaves the classroom.
Obviously, it’s a (funny) example of an unacceptable attitude and influence that both students and their parents have on teaching, where we see them attack schools on account of which classic books are part of the curriculum, which guests are invited to lectures, and which topics are allowed to be discussed. American Fiction takes on the current debate on African-American culture with a healthy dose of humor, and insight.
A forced temporary leave
The teacher is Thelonius ”Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a middle-aged writer in Los Angeles whose books are respected but hardly bestsellers. His latest conflict with a student forces him to take temporary leave and he decides to go back to his hometown, Boston. He reconnects with his family, including his mother (Leslie Uggams) who’s showing signs of dementia, and his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), who’s a doctor and resents him and his brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) for going away.
Fed up with everything in his life, Monk decides to write a novel, under a pseudonym, satirizing a current trend of ghetto depictions of African-Americans, calling it ”My Pafology”. He’s stunned to learn that the book, meant to be a joke, is taking the liberal publishing elite by storm…
Writing another “Push”
In 1996, the novel ”Push” by Sapphire was published. Earning a lot of praise, it depicted an obese, illiterate 16-year-old Black girl who endures constant abuse. There were however those who objected to the novel and its use of dialect, finding it pandering to white readers, creating a simplistic image of African-Americans. That’s how Monk in this film feels about a ”Push”-type novel called ”We’s Lives in Da Ghetto”. This, in Monk’s view, undeserved literary hit inspires him to create his satire. Wright is perfect in that part, both lovable and flawed, especially in how he views the world. He may be correct in identifying phony attitudes in his students and the white establishment in literary circles… but the film finds amusing little ways of reminding him that plain racism can burst his little bubble.
Cord Jefferson frequently hits the right note in the dialogue
This is a very cunning screenplay by first-time filmmaker Cord Jefferson, who has a history as a journalist and comedy writer. He frequently hits the right note in the dialogue, whether he’s focusing on Monk’s surprising new career as the fictitious ex-con and bestseller writer Stagg R. Leigh, or his evolving romance with a Boston lawyer, Coraline (Erika Alexander), or his equally evolving relationship with his colorful brother Cliff, who was once married to a woman but now focuses on sleeping around with men and partying a little too hard (Brown is wonderful in that role).
Often brilliant, with icing on the cake in the shape of Laura Karpman’s jazzy music score. What makes the film so successful is its blend of moving family drama and sharp satire, ending with a knowing but playful illustration of how a film adaptation of ”My Pafology” should end. There will be blood.
American Fiction 2023-U.S. 117 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by Cord Jefferson. Novel: Percival Everett (”Erasure”). Music: Laura Karpman. Cast: Jeffrey Wright (Thelonius ”Monk” Ellison), Tracee Ellis Ross (Lisa Ellison), Issa Rae (Sintara Golden), Sterling K. Brown (Clifford ”Cliff” Ellison), John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Adam Brody.
Trivia: Co-executive produced by Rian Johnson.
Quote: “Hard work doesn’t demand respect. People worked hard on the Third Reich.” (Neal Lerner)
Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay. BAFTA: Best Adapted Screenplay.
Last word: “I really do think we captured something true, because the vast majority of the stuff in the movie could happen. Three months before I found ‘Erasure’, I got a script note from an executive that I needed to make a character Blacker. If I were to put that in American Fiction, it would have fit perfectly. The things that people think are so farcical and exaggerated – they’d be surprised if they actually sat in on some of these meetings. I’ve talked to a lot of people of color who say, ‘I know that you’re calling it a satire, but this feels like a documentary to me.'” (Jefferson, Esquire)
