American Fiction

The movie American Fiction starts off with a bang of a scene that makes you think, "Oh. This is going to be amazing." From beginning to end, there are a number of sharp, brilliant, stingingly funny scenes. But they're interspersed between what feels like another movie - a bittersweet yet heartwarming family drama. Two movies with the same characters running along a parallel story arc that occasionally intersect. On more than one occasion I found myself asking, wait, which movie am I watching? First, there is the movie as described in the IMDB synopsis: "Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write his own outlandish "Black" book--that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain." This movie is awesome. But it only shows up on occasion as what sometimes feels like a sub-plot of the other movie. The other movie also stars Jeffrey Wright as Monk, same frustrated, emotionally disconnected, lost character. He takes a highly-encouraged leave of absence from his university teaching job and goes and reconnects with his emotionally damaged and broken yet still loving family. The great cast includes Tracee Ellis Ross as his accomplished, primary-bearer-of-responsibility sister; Sterling K. Brown as his middle-aged, recently-heterosexually-divorced, now out-gay-and-on-the-prowl brother; and, best of all, the legendary Leslie Uggams as his rapidly-on-the-decline-but-won't-acknowledge-it mother. Monk gradually, reluctantly takes more and more responsibility to care for his mother and be an active brother, accomplishing some middle age growing up in the process. It's a very nice, warm, if not particularly inspiring movie. It serves as the narrative background for the first movie. The first movie is also a kind of journey of maturity, responsibility and self-discovery, along with being a biting and very funny satire. It's way more interesting and fun. Unfortunately, we don't get to spend a lot of time there. It's too bad, because each time it reappeared I thought, now THIS is the movie that I want to see. The effect is a feeling of story-drive interruptus. The first movie brings a level of building tension that wets your appetite with anticipation (OMG, what's going to happen next? I can't look but want to look!). And then it drops that tension and momentum when we move back to what is actually the main story line with him and his family. I kept feeling like, no wait, don't go back to the family movie, stay with this one! The good thing is that it comes back around to the first movie at the end with a climax scene that is sharp, cynical and hilarious.

IN A NUTSHELL: The story is based on Percival Everett's book called "Erasure." This is director Cord Jefferson's debut! He's off to a great start! He also wrote the screenplay with Percival Everett. The film has already won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. In total, it has received 90 nominations and already won 29! Well deserved. THINGS I LIKED: Jeffrey Wright is absolutely terrific and does an excellent job carrying this film. The rest of the cast is also fantastic and includes Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Keith David, and more. I'm always fascinated by movies about writers. I'm an author of 31 books (you can find them all on Amazon from various publishers...shameless plug), so I love seeing how they're portrayed in films. You can search for my books by using my nane: Trina Boice. The movie absolutely pokes fun at white people who seem to know more about being black than actual black people. It was heartbreaking to watch the family navigate an aging mother with Alzheimer's Disease. My family just went through that and had to say goodbye last fall. Those scenes were hard to watch for me. There are so many decisions that a family needs to make during those difficult times, and I thought the film did a good job illustrating that. There is a lot of clever, satirical humor that pokes fun at society, race, and culture. I love the ending of the film that shows several endings. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: I really enjoyed this. TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be bored. The "N" word is used. Profanity, including many F-bombs, which also happens to be the name of a book that's talked about a lot in the story. Talk of gay sex. We see two gay men kiss. We see a lot of shirtless men. Lots of gunshots that result in a bloody death. !

I really liked the first 45 minutes of the movie as I thought the movie had a great concept and director Cord Jefferson clearly has a vision on what the theme and the movie is trying to explore. But as a whole, it was mostly okay. Jeffrey Wright is an actor I like and Wright and many of the cast members provided strong performances for their roles and the characters, while some aren't as investing, had some charm and chemistry to engage towards. The script explores about black identity, culture, and commentaries about the ways stories about Black people are told and it is a pretty concept to explore. However, I personally felt it didn't go as deep or insightful as it could have been because while there were some great satirical moments, it felt missing and didn't hit the mark as it wanted too. The production designs are okay, the direction was standard and the humor aspects are solid but I was left wanting a little more on some of the satirical elements. The dialogue, while can be a bit dated at some points, is solid. Overall, it's not a bad movie for sure as I do think there is a lot to appreciate but I personally felt this could have been stronger. Wright does deserve more attention however cause he is a great actor.

An author, dejected by the state of society and what readers consider black literature, decides to give the people what they want: a stereotypical black story. What was supposed to be a satirical commentary turns into something more than he ever expected. This film is an adaptation of the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. The film is a good mix of drama and comedy. One storyline makes fun of how, even though society is becoming more accepting of minorities, it unintentionally marginalizes them by continuing to perpetuate stereotypes. At the same time, another storyline shows an individual struggling with the hardships of life. The film's display of irony makes it an intriguing watch and reflects our current state as a society. This is a great film to watch with friends and discuss afterward.

This film is absolutely first class, their was a real moment of comedy genius, art of silence at its purest that just hit with perfection. I found myself laughing about this one moment throughout the whole film, through the credits and even on the train home, wile writing this review I am still giggling. This film is both light and dark in the style of Ricky Gervais "After Life" which so many films recently are trying to replicate, with little hitting the mark, but American Fiction does, real laugh out loud dark comedy, accompanied with that toe curling awkwardness that will make you squirm in your seats and wish you had a duvet to pull over your eyes. I imagine I will still be laughing about this film for a very long time.