AMERICAN FICTION
A Black novelist frustrated by stereotypes of Black life writes a parody, only to be pulled into the same double standards he set out to expose.
That’s the premise of “American Fiction.”
The film stars Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a serious writer whose work is ignored by publishers.
What does sell, he notices, are books that lean on caricatured versions of Black life.
To expose the hypocrisy, Monk writes an outrageous parody of a “Black” book under a pen name — only to watch it become a massive hit he can’t control.
The chaos spills into his family life, including his relationship with his aging mother (Leslie Uggams).
Critics praised the film’s sharpness and humanity.
“A whip-smart, nimble satire,” critic Robert Daniels writes for RogerEbert.com.
“Shines an inquisitive light on how art from marginalized people is viewed,” Kenneth Seward Jr. writes for IGN Movies.
“Worth all of the hype. It is layered, complex and told with clarity and humor,” Jeanine T. Abraham writes for VisAbleBlackwoman.
The 2023 film runs 1 hour 57 minutes and is rated R. Based on Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” the film won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for writer‑director Cord Jefferson. It also earned 64 other critic and festival awards, including 11 Best Actor awards for Wright.
The film’s trailer can be seen on YouTube: tinyurl.com/AmericanFiction-MoviesWSpirit.
The screening will be followed by a discussion. Refreshments will be served. Suggested donation is $10 for ages 13 and up.
The monthly Movies With Spirit series, organized by Gerry Harrington of Kingston, features films about connection, compassion and the search for meaning. It respects all cultures and beliefs but isn’t bound to any one of them. It points instead to universal themes that connect us all.
Screenings take place in diverse places of worship and culture across Ulster County, usually on the third Saturday of each month. Movies With Spirit has no religious affiliation.
For more information: tinyurl.com/MoviesWithSpiritFacebookPage, 845-389-9201, gerryharrington@mindspring.com.
