American Fiction                               5 stars

From first time director Cord Jefferson comes the satirical comedy American Fiction, an  adaptation of the novel Erasure. This sharp-witted movie takes on the subject of the publishing world’s pandering to white guilt with the publishing of Black authors’ works that feature the worst in Black stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright who is known for his many supporting roles such as Dr. Narcisse from Boardwalk Empire and Bernard from Westworld gets the lead role as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a professor and intellectual writer whose books do not sell well. His agent (John Ortiz) wants him to write more “Black”, but Monk wants nothing to do with writing in a ghetto style which is what the successful Black authors are doing, such as the writer Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), who is making the talk show circuit with her new book “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto”. The book is very popular with white audiences, but Monk despises such work. But then after some devastating events in his family, out of frustration Monk sets out to write something portraying the worst in drug abuse, family conflict, rappers and cops killing Black men. He calls it “My Pafology” and his agent is taken aback by it. They both decide to try marketing it to publishers and are surprised when they are eager to publish this very gritty work. (Monk uses a pseudonym, “Stagg R. Leigh” in order to maintain his anonymity.) The publisher offers an advance greater than he has ever seen before. Further, Monk has to take on a fake persona as a street talking ex-con when being interviewed to give him more street cred. When talking with a movie producer (Adam Brody) he is offered even more money for the movie rights. (The producer is bragging about his new film, “Plantation Annihilation”.) Monk is disgusted by all of this but since he needs the money he goes along with it. Wright is completely convincing as the intellectual Monk, but is also good with the family scenes. He is dealing with a mother (Leslie Uggams) with Alzheimer’s disease, a less than responsible brother, Clifford, who has recently come out as gay (Sterling K. Brown) and a new girlfriend, the neighbor across the street (Erika Alexander). This story line helps to make Monk’s character seem that much more real as he must deal with these various crises. The movie is made completely real based on the acting ability of Wright who can register his character’s feelings with the expressions on his face. I have always been a fan of his since Boardwalk Empire where I first saw him. He (and Paul Giamatti as another unsuccessful writer in The Holdovers) are completely deserving of the Best Actor Academy Award nominations they received. Cord Jefferson has created a movie that must be seen. The movie has been nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture.