Good satire is hard to come by these days. It often feels as if modern stories, whether a film, a novel, or a series, can either be compelling or they can be relevant. American Fiction is like a light at the end of the tunnel for audiences desperate for good storytelling that organically sprouts from social frustrations. If that wasn’t enough, it’s a charming script, fiercely engaging, and led by a brilliant cast.
Based on the 2001 Percival Everett novel Erasure, American Fiction begins with author Thelonius Ellison earning himself an indefinite suspension from his position as a teacher following a string of frustrated outbursts. Thelonious may not be earning any money but we are told that he makes good work that he is proud of. When tragedy strikes his family the overlooked writer is pressured to come up with some quick cash.
Thelonious is frustrated at the state of Black representation in mainstream publishing. He bemoans the explosion of literature that hyper fixates (borderline fetishises) on the violence, the depravity, and the agonised wailing of the downtrodden in America. Thelonious argues, that all of this ‘guilt-porn’ is only to the benefit of white readers who engage with the media solely to make it clear to others that they ‘get’ it. Hoping to mock this trend, Thelonious decides to write such a book himself, an overnight hack job about a thug who struggles to discover his worth in the face of hardship, neglect, and violence. He derisively names the piece: ‘My Pafology’.
The plot follows Thelonious’ insult of a novel becoming an overnight bestseller. The community that he intended to mock is instead moved to tears by the book’s caricatures of black thugs and deadbeat dads, and the sappy melodrama that mimics profundity. Thelonious’ money problems are over but the upper middle class Bostonite has to adopt the persona of the book’s fake author, a reformed ex-convict, to sell the book’s authenticity.
Crucially, the film refuses to be as cliche as the genre it mocks, and thankfully so. We have seen similar films where joe-schmoe is suddenly thrust into stardom, caught in a lie that betrays their more honest beliefs. We might expect a live interview to grow tense when a crucial contradiction in Thelonious’ backstory is suddenly revealed, or the presence of an investigator who steadily inches their way towards the truth. American Fiction avoids all of this. The story follows a lie that everyone wants to believe and Thelonious’ efforts to maintain the persona of his persona, Stagg R. Leigh, are never thrown into any meaningful danger. It’s actually remarkable just how unconvincing Thelonious actually is as Stagg and still manages to keep everyone fooled. It is all played for laughs and the real tension comes from Thelonious’ struggle for familial connection. The reclusive intellectual only burrows deeper into solitude following the invention of Stagg, and Thelonious’ desire to keep what’s left of his family together become the film’s primary source of conflict.
The film’s satirical edge does, admittedly, stretch thin. A repeated joke about a Hollywood slasher production (titled: Plantation Annihilation) certainly feels detached from any real point that could be being made (I mean, does Hollywood actually make films like this? Have I just missed them?). Indeed the targets of the film’s ridicule are played as cartoonish as possible, which runs against the compellingly layered performances from the central characters. It feels as if Thelonious is constantly jumping between a real world and a cartoon world in the style of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Watching the breakdown and repair of Thelonious’ family, the emotional core of the film, jumps between heart-breaking and delightful effortlessly. Jeffrey Wright has excellent chemistry with Tracee Lee Ellis, who plays Thelonious’ sister, and Sterling K. Brown, as Thelonious’ restless soul brother, is firing on all cylinders, balancing the same tragi-comic wavelength that the whole film resonates on.
A strong contender for 2023’s best comedy, American Fiction hits its mark and sticks the landing. At once, topical, biting, sincere, and compelling, the film stands tall within a list of very strong contenders in this year’s awards season.
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