Review of American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson

I remember when American Fiction was coming out, and I even was invited to an early screening of the movie in New York City, as at the time I was working actively as a film critic. That said, I never had an opportunity to actually go see it, as I didn’t want to go up to New York, and my local movie theatre chain had limited show times.

I didn’t think about it for a while after that, even after Oscars season had passed, and then I continued living my life. Then, in the summer of 2024, I was given the incredible opportunity to go to Busan, South Korea under a full government scholarship to study Korean.

And that was how I found myself on about 16 hours worth of flights. I was flying United from SFO in San Francisco to Incheon airport in South Korea, and I had about 11 hours on the flight to find time to entertain myself. So I watched a ton of different movies, and was eventually delighted to come across American Fiction on their catalogue.

That was how I finally ended up watching the movie. Otherwise I would’ve bet money that I would procrastinate for years before watching this, so I’m glad I got around to it.

Let’s get into the review before I ramble too much, shall we?

A Black author finds immense successful playing into the stereotypical tropes the publishing industry wants to see.

Our main character in this movie is Monk Ellison (real name: Thelonious), who is an intellectual writer who hasn’t found a ton of success in the industry. He works as a professor at a university in Los Angeles, and while his books are praised by academic circles, no one in the mainstream world actually reads his work.

Lately, publishers aren’t picking up his newest book because they think it’s not Black enough, and things get worse for him when the university puts him on leave for being a little too blunt with students about race. Monk goes back to Boston, where he is from, to host a panel, but no one goes to it.

He then sees another author, Sintara Golden, has a packed room at the conference. He thinks her work relies way too heavily on stereotypical depictions of Black Americans, and he shrugs it off at first. When he goes home to his family, his sister Lisa has a heart attack, and everyone gathers for the funeral.

We also meet Monk’s brother Cliff, whose marriage just fell apart because his wife caught him with another man. Monk also falls in love with a woman named Caroline, who he meets one day while outside, as she lives across the street from the family beach house.

As all of this personal drama unfolds, Monk decides to write a satire called My Pafology, where he, too, panders to beliefs about Black Americans. His agent and he send it to publishers, where it sells for almost a million as an advance. His agent then tells him to go under a pen name and claim he’s a convict, which then lands Monk a movie deal.

Monk decides to troll with this moment of fame and even tries to wreck the movie deal. Somewhere along the way he gets invited to judge an award with Sintara, and he discovers they both actually believe a lot of the same things about the industry.

His mother is moved into a facility after this, and Monk’s brother flees after she says something pretty homophobic. The book is a bestseller, and the FBI comes after the publisher because they think the author is a fugitive. It’s also submitted to the same award Monk is judging.

His relationship ends after Caroline admits she liked the book, now titled Fuck after Monk’s attempt to sabotage the movie deal, and the judging committee is split on the book. The white people love it, while Sintara hates it. Monk then digs at her book, but then she says she got the research from interviewing real people, and white people projected their thoughts onto it.

Cliff and Monk have a moment at their housekeeper Lorraine’s wedding, and Cliff even tells his brother to let people love all the parts of him. Fuck wins the literary award, and Monk goes onto the stage and admits he has a confession. It ends there, and then we see all of this was Monk writing a screenplay.

Turns out this was for the the film adaptation as an alternative, and Monk actually hasn’t gone public with this yet. He also isn’t dating Caorline anymore. It’s asked of him to change the ending, but Monk then asks what about if he ran away to apologize to Caroline, but this is seen too much as a romantic comedy.

Another ending is where the police shoot him dead, thinking he is a fugitive, and the publisher loves this. Monk hates this, and then he drives away with Cliff in the film’s final moments.

Overall Thoughts

When I was watching this on the plane, left alone with my thoughts and what was happening on the screen in front of me, all I could think about was how this was such a smart movie. Lots to think about when it comes to the artistic industries and what we’re actually doing with representation.

As someone who has worked within multiple industries, despite being white passing, it’s come to my attention often that people always expect certain narratives from you when they find out about the ethnic background you come from. It’s something I’ve often tried to resist in my writing, but it’s difficult if you want to be successful.

This was a good movie to represent that I would say. We needed this kind of work when it came out, and I am glad I finally got the chance to watch it. The story is good too, and the acting is solid all around.

Go watch this one if you’re interested in what it has to say! You will find it worth it.

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.