Jeffrey Wright Writes, the Literary World Flails

DIRECTED BY CORD JEFFERSON/2023

American Fiction, helmed by director Cord Jefferson, sets out on an ambitious journey to satirize both the literary and film communities, fueled by a standout performance from Jeffrey Wright as self-dignified author Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison. However, the film struggles to maintain its satirical edge, veering into the territory of family melodrama (with accomplished performances by Tracee Ellis Ross as Monk’s sister and Sterling K. Brown as his brother) as and broad comedy, ultimately leaving audiences yearning for the boldness that the premise seemed to promise.

The sort of white liberalism that treats minorities and marginalized communities like they are some sort of magical monolithic creature that should be studied to be fully understood, and their pain and poverty should be the main usefulness of our entertainment, needs to be satirized to the point of absolute destruction. A part of me wondered though if Jefferson knew that the market was a Venn diagram with the market for this film and handled it more carefully than he should.  

Jefferson, while showing glimpses of brilliance, seems to shy away from fully embracing the boldness the subject matter demands. The film also looks cheap, with sitcom-level blocking and overly-bright cinematography. One can’t help but wonder what a director with the audacity of someone like Boots Riley could have brought to this material, in the subject matter, the look and the themes.

In the end, American Fiction is a film caught in a tug of war between its satirical ambitions and the comfort of conventional storytelling. I’m happy that Wright got a performance to really dig into, but I just wish this was a film that more met his full potential.