‘American Fiction’ is one of the most highly acclaimed films of 2023. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2023 and has received numerous accolades.
Not only was it named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the American Film Institute, the film also received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright), with writer-director Cord Jefferson winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
Now, this highly acclaimed film is one of the many film selections that are featured during the Spring Film Festival!
‘American Fiction’ marks Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes.
Monk is a frustrated novelist who is 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 an outlandish “black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
‘American Fiction’ does an incredible job being both a social commentary that can be thought-provoking and a really entertaining comedy/drama.
The film dives into many topics besides societal stereotypes, such as family dynamics, self-discovery, and even the challenges of taking care of an aging parent. ‘American Fiction’ does an outstanding job balancing all of these topics, which also helps make the film feel emotional and makes a few of the scenes really moving.
Jeffrey Wright is absolutely incredible as novelist/college professor Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison. Throughout the film, Wright can be both very serious and also hilarious. During the scenes where Ellison discusses the stereotypes trope, you can feel that the character is extremely passionate about discussing this trope.
Ellison also has quite a few humorous moments, especially when he has to talk to people about this new book that he wrote under a new pen name and has to develop a new persona that he and his agent (Arthur) created. The scene where Ellison and his agent start developing the new persona can also be really entertaining. Wright definitely deserved his first Oscar nomination and the entire cast does a fantastic job as well.
‘American Fiction’ is a clever and entertaining satire that also takes its subject matter seriously. This is definitely a film that you should check out during this year’s Spring Film Festival!
The cast: Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison; Tracee Ellis Ross as Lisa Ellison; Erika Alexander as Coraline; Leslie Uggams as Agnes Ellison; Issa Rae as Sintara Golden; Sterling K. Brown as Clifford; Myra Lucretia Taylor as Lorraine; Adam Brody as Wiley Valdespino and John Ortiz as Arthur.
‘American Fiction’ is written and directed by Cord Jefferson and is based on the 2001 novel ‘Erasure’ by Percival Everett.
‘American Fiction’ is rated R for language throughout, some drug use, sexual references and brief violence and has a running time of 117 minutes.
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