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American Fiction (film)
2023 film by Cord Jefferson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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American Fiction is a 2023 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cord Jefferson in his feature directorial debut. Based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett, it follows a frustrated African-American novelist-professor who writes an outlandish satire of stereotypical "black" books, only for it to be mistaken for serious literature and published to high sales and critical praise. The film stars Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody and Keith David.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2023, where it won the People's Choice Award. It received a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on December 15, 2023, with an expansion on December 22, 2023.
The film grossed $23 million and received numerous accolades. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the American Film Institute. It also received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Wright, with Jefferson winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Plot
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Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a well-read, black elite writer and professor living in Los Angeles. His novels receive academic praise but sell poorly, and his publishers reject his latest manuscript for not being "Black enough". His superiors place him on temporary leave due to his brashness with students over racial issues, and suggest that he attend a literary seminar in his hometown of Boston. His panel at the seminar is sparsely attended, in contrast to a packed room for an interview with Sintara Golden, whose bestselling novel We's Lives in Da Ghetto panders to Black stereotypes.
In Boston, Monk has dinner with his mother Agnes, who has Alzheimer's disease, and his sister Lisa, a physician. While having drinks with Monk, Lisa suffers a fatal heart attack. Their estranged brother Cliff, a plastic surgeon, attends Lisa's funeral. Newly divorced and out of the closet, Cliff engages in frequent drug use and casual sex. Monk meets Coraline, a lawyer living across the street from his mother's beach house, and begins dating her.
Frustrated by Sintara's success and the costs of care for his mother, Monk writes My Pafology, a satirical novel mocking the literary stereotypes expected from Black writers: melodramatic plots, deadbeat dads, gang violence, and drugs. After submitting it to publishers out of contempt, he is shocked to be offered a $750,000 advance, which he reluctantly accepts to pay for his mother's care. His agent Arthur convinces him to adopt the persona of "Stagg R. Leigh", a convict on the run, to protect his reputation. As "Stagg", Monk is offered a movie deal from film producer Wiley. In response to insulting comments by the publishing executives, Monk tries to sabotage the deal by demanding the title be changed to Fuck, but the publishers concede to his ultimatum. Monk is invited to help judge the New England Book Association's Literary Award as part of a "diversity push" and he reluctantly accepts. Sintara is a fellow judge, and Monk discovers that she shares many of his views.
Agnes moves into an expensive assisted-living facility but adapts poorly. Cliff briefly returns to Boston but leaves after Agnes makes a homophobic remark. Fuck becomes a bestseller, much to Monk's shock and chagrin. Monk's family, friends, and the public remain unaware that he is "Stagg", and the FBI contacts the publisher, believing Stagg is a fugitive as he claimed in interviews.
Monk's publisher submits Fuck for the Literary Award, forcing him to judge his own novel. Monk learns that Coraline enjoyed reading Fuck; they argue over it and break up. The panel's white judges rave over Fuck, though Sintara deems the subject matter "pandering." While Monk agrees, he argues that Sintara's book is "trauma porn" and inauthentic to her black middle-class background. Sintara counters that she researched her book by interviewing voiceless people and was just giving the market what it wants.
On family housekeeper Lorraine's wedding day, Monk finds Cliff living in Agnes's beach house with two other men, but Lorraine is happy to have him attend the wedding. At the reception, Monk and Cliff discuss the impact of their father's suicide, with Cliff encouraging Monk to let people "love all of him".
At the awards ceremony, Fuck is announced as the winner. Monk goes onstage and says he has a confession to make. The film cuts to black, and the events shown are revealed to have been Monk's screenplay based on his experiences, written for Wiley's production company as an alternative to the Fuck film adaptation; in reality, Monk quietly left the ceremony and is still estranged from Coraline. Wiley likes the screenplay but asks Monk to change the ambiguous ending.
Monk proposes an ending with him running away from the ceremony to apologize to Coraline, but Wiley says it feels too much like a romantic comedy. Monk then suggests one where police, believing Monk to be a wanted criminal, fatally shoot him at the ceremony. Much to Monk's dismay, Wiley loves it and the film moves into production. Monk drives away with Cliff after he and one of Wiley's actors, playing a slave, acknowledge each other.
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Cast
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- Top row: (left to right) Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz and Erika Alexander
- Bottom row: (left to right) Leslie Uggams, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown and Adam Brody
- Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a writer and professor of literature, as well as brother to Lisa and Cliff. Monk has mild success as a writer until he satirically writes Fuck under the alias “Stagg R. Leigh.”
- Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Lisa Ellison, a divorced medical doctor and sister to Monk and Cliff
- Issa Rae as Sintara Golden, a black author who has achieved popularity for her new book, We’s Lives In Da Ghetto
- Sterling K. Brown as Dr. Clifford "Cliff" Ellison, a plastic surgeon and brother to Monk and Lisa, who has recently come out as a gay man
- John Ortiz as Arthur, Monk’s agent
- Erika Alexander as Coraline, a public defender who is Agnes’s neighbor and Monk’s eventual girlfriend
- Leslie Uggams as Agnes Ellison, mother to Monk, Lisa, and Cliff, who begins to suffer from Alzheimer’s
- Adam Brody as Wiley Valdespino, a movie producer interested in Fuck
- Keith David as Willy the Wonker, an imaginary character that Monk uses to visualize his dialogue for Fuck
- Okieriete Onaodowan as Van Go Jenkins, an imaginary character that Monk uses to visualize his dialogue for Fuck
- Myra Lucretia Taylor as Lorraine, family friend and caretaker for the Ellisons
- Raymond Anthony Thomas as Maynard, a security guard who strikes up a romance with Lorraine
- Miriam Shor as Paula Baderman
- Michael Cyril Creighton as John Bosco
- Patrick Fischler as Mandel
- Neal Lerner as Wilson Harnet
- J. C. MacKenzie as Carl Brunt
- Jenn Harris as Aileen Hoover
- Bates Wilder as Jon Daniel Sigmarsen
- Ryan Richard Doyle as Ned
- Skyler Wright as Brittany
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Production
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In November 2022, Jeffrey Wright was cast in the untitled film, based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Cord Jefferson would adapt the novel, with the film being his directorial debut.[5][6] T-Street Productions and MRC Film produced the film. In December 2022, Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown, Myra Lucretia Taylor, John Ortiz, Issa Rae, and Adam Brody joined the cast.[7] The film wrapped production in Boston in early December, with COVID-19 safety precautions used on set.[8] That month, MGM's Orion Pictures acquired the film's worldwide distribution rights.[9] As a first-time filmmaker, Jefferson said he was such a fan of Wright's that he was nervous to give him feedback; it was producer Nikos Karamigios who, on the first day of shooting, encouraged him to be more assertive as a director. The film was shot in twenty-six days, with most scenes being completed with minimal takes (3–4).[10] In July 2023, with the announcement of its world premiere, the film's title was reported to be American Fiction.[11] It is the first film from Orion to be distributed through Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, following Amazon's acquisition of MGM the year before, which also resulted in the 2021 MGM logo being added to the beginning of the film.[12]
Music
Release
On September 8, 2023, American Fiction premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award.[11][13] This was followed by a run in the festival circuit, culminating in its United States premiere at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on December 5, 2023.[14] It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 15, 2023, with an expansion the following week (December 22, 2023).[15] The film's release date had initially been set for November 3, 2023, before being changed to the later date.[16] The film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Curzon Film on February 2, 2024.[17]
The film was released for digital platforms on February 6, 2024.[18]
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Reception
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Box office
American Fiction grossed $21.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.9 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $23 million.[3][4]
The film made $229,000 from seven theaters in its opening weekend, a per-venue average of $32,400.[19] Following its five Oscar nominations, the film expanded from 852 theaters to 1,702 in its 7th week of release and made $2.9 million, an increase of 65% from the previous weekend, and a running total of $11.8 million.[20] The following weekend it made $2.4 million.[21]
Critical response
Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown garnered critical acclaim for their performances and earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 285 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Jeffrey Wright and American Fiction will forever be inextricable thanks to the actor's committed approach to the pointedly humorous and insightful material."[22] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[23] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 90% positive score, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend it.[19]
In her review for The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarke wrote that "American Fiction is smart and, thanks to its fine cast, has genuine heart", commending Wright's "subtle physicality … that contributes depth to his character", as well as "Uggams' increasingly somber performance as Agnes and Brown's delightful comedic turn".[24] Peter Debruge for Variety, applauded Jefferson's writing prowess, likening him to Flannery O'Connor and Toni Morrison, whose works were both referenced in the film. To Debruge, Jefferson "trusts his audience to bring themselves to the material", which is "what makes reading "American Fiction" so rewarding."[25] Peyton Robinson writing for RogerEbert.com highlighted Jefferson's writing as the key takeaway from this film, stating that his "attentive lens" to the film's "concept and themes is what will be remembered". Robinson goes on to identify the distinguishable legacy within the script, emphasizing Jefferson's "sharply pointed finger at the many institutional factors that keep [Black art], and its creators, restrained."[26]
Sarah Lyall of The New York Times covered Jeffrey Wright in a feature about his career and his role in American Fiction, claiming that Wright's "exquisitely calibrated" performance demonstrates "[Wright's] ability to elevate any movie or TV show simply by appearing in it." Lyall goes on to celebrate that Wright "has a way of burrowing so deeply into his characters that he seems almost to be hiding in plain sight."[27] Stephanie Zacharek at Time magazine also highlighted the lead star's performance, admiring that "Wright brings it all to life". Zacharek notes that Wright does so "not with thunderous, statement-making gestures, but with small ones that remind us how vulnerable Monk is", even amidst the protagonist's "own raging intelligence".[28]
Filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood praised writer-director Cord Jefferson, stating that an artist's first work should tell the world who they are and Jefferson "has screamed into a bullhorn. Bold, chaotic, unflinching, personal. Cord has channeled his creative truths into a searing indictment of biased norms."[29] Other filmmakers, including Rachel Morrison and Paul Schrader, also praised the film.[30]
Accolades
The American Film Institute placed American Fiction as one of its top 10 films of 2023, praising Jefferson's writing as "the arrival of a powerful voice in American film", Wright's "triumphant" performance, and the ensemble cast.[31]
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Notes
- Shared with Rustin.
- Shared with A. V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One.
- Tied with Greta Lee for Past Lives.
- Shared with Past Lives.
- Tied with Oppenheimer.
- Shared with Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
References
External links
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