51. American Fiction; movie review

 

AMERICAN FICTION

Cert 15

117 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, drug misuse

It will be largely drowned out by the noise around Oppenheimer but I hope that American Fiction receives some love at the Academy Awards.

This clever and subtle comedy seeks to reclaim the African American narrative from liberal whites.

Meanwhile, there is also an intense and sometimes funny story of the aggravations but unavoidable love of family.

Jeffrey Wright, who has the dreamiest voice in Hollywood, plays its central character, Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison, an intellectual whose books are acclaimed but sell few.

Monk is a university lecturer and turns off his students, colleagues, book publishers, family and friends with his superiority complex.

He is hugely irritated that circumstances mean he has to return to his home city of Boston and devastated that he has to stay.

Meanwhile, publishers are turning their noses up at his latest book. Hence, he deliberately writes what he believes is a trash book under a pseudonym.

He is bewildered by the response of educated whites to its deliberately coarse and hip language.

Wright is undoubtedly worth his Oscar nomination as the curmudgeonly anti-hero everyone can see is desperate for love but himself.

Sterling K. Brown has also received a nod for his energetic and sometimes flamboyant portrayal of his brother.

But the highest plaudits should go to Cord Jefferson for a wonderfully deep screenplay that grips subtle racism and the devastating effects of premature death and Alzheimer's Disease on a family.

But despite serious subject matters, there are also belly laughs, great joy and a fabulous twist during American Fiction.

It is an outstanding directorial debut by Jefferson in which he extracts every last nuance from his cast.

Reasons to watch: Beautifully written

Reasons to avoid: Low on action

Laughs: Four

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 9/10

Did you know? The family name Ellison is based on American writers Harlan Ellison, Ralph Ellison and Sheila Ellison who all wrote about social issues.

The final word. Cord Jefferson: "t started to feel eerie, how much Monk's life resembled my own. Almost as soon as I started reading Erasure, I wanted to adapt it. I even started hearing Jeffrey Wright's voice in my head—that’s how early I was thinking of him for the part." Esquire

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