“Your father was a genius. Geniuses are lonely because they can't connect with the rest of us. You're a genius, son.”“I certainly don't feel like one half the time.”American Fiction is a hilarious satire about the way modern day white-American entertainment portrays black culture. Which in their minds, is a powerful story of a group of people who attempt to work their way out of dangerous ghettos. Some make it out, others are blown away. Well novelist Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) finds that to be a pandering look at his culture. But when he finds out that it makes money, he decides to jump on the bandwagon under an alias with a criminal backstory.
The film is a stab at far-left liberalism, full of people who try their hardest to be inclusive, while unintentionally being racist. An example of this in the film is when Ellison goes to a bookstore, attempting to find his book in the fiction section. When he asks an employee if they own any of his books, they lead him to the section “African American Studies”. Where Ellison delivers a hilarious line,
“The blackest thing about this novel is the ink.”.
Another hilarious moment is when Ellison writes his novel, that he himself says is pandering garbage. But when the three white judges outvote the two black judges to make his novel the best novel of the year, the lead judge declares the 3-2 vote the decider then proceeds to say
“I think it’s essential to listen to Black voices right now.”. A hilarious, yet powerful scene.
Now about the incredible performances in this film, Jeffrey Wright gives an incredible lead performance as Thelonious. It’s sucks he had to go up against such a stacked Lead Actor lineup at the Oscars, but his performance was absolutely deserving of its nom. We also get great supporting performances, specifically from Sterling K. Brown as Thelonious’ brother, Clifford. And a standout performance from Erika Alexander, as Thelonious’ love interest Coraline. Along with an Oscar winning adapted screenplay,
American Fiction is a great film that was unfortunately overshadowed by many other 2023 standouts, such as
Oppenheimer,
Barbie, and
Killers of the Flower Moon to name a few. But with it also being a feature film directorial debut from Cord Jefferson, he should be a name to look out for in upcoming features.
If you’ve seen this film and enjoyed it, I would like to recommend another film that touches on the idea of Hollywood’s racial views of black people, and that is Robert Townsend’s hilarious comedy,
Hollywood Shuffle. It’s a lot of fun, and definitely worth a watch.
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