Adapted from the 2001 novel Erasure, by Percival Everett,
comes the Academy’s this year’s favourite black movie, the critically acclaimed
American Fiction, directed and written by Cord Jefferson, the adapted screenplay
of which won the Oscar (its only Oscar).
The story revolves around Thelonious Ellison, or Monk,
who is, well, a critically acclaimed writer, respected in the literary circles,
but not too successful with his books, because as his publisher explains to
him, he writes books that are like ‘Blue Label’ (of the Johnnie Walker range),
respected by all, but consumed by a few, whereas what he should be writing is ‘Red
Label’ that is loved and consumed by many. The Red label, or as I would rather remember
it as, the ‘Black Label’ also doubles up as a meaning for what the audience and
the publishers (especially a white one) are looking to read in a Black fiction
novel – the grime, the crime and the sublime. When he writes an ironic joke in the
form of a stereotypical black novel that accidentally becomes a super hit,
minting him money, fame, critical success and even a Hollywood movie, against
the backdrop of his broken family falling apart and coming together, he comes
to accept his own failings along with that of the world around him, moving on, and holding
on to the friends and family he’s got left.
The film is a light-hearted satire on the issue of inclusion
of black people and the normalization of (privileged and un-privileged) black
lives in American society. The film pits against each other two contrarian
views of this idea. On one side, is the view of the protagonist, Monk, who refuses
to accept the cliche of black lives and black fiction, and propagates the idea
that black stories can be and should be so much more than a 'ghetto' life. On the
other side, is the commonly accepted view, (which also sells lots of books and
movies), that shows black people speaking in black accents, hustling and
struggling against fundamentally deprived lives, as represented by the
best-selling author Sintara Golden (played by Issa Rae).
The first side, seen through the eyes of Monk, is
funny and tickles our privileged sense of humour, where we find ourselves
siding with Monk, judging and making fun of the white men and women who wallow
in their own superficial sense of sympathy for the under-privileged black
people, and the misguided way in which they absolve their own guilt by championing
what they believe is the right depiction of black ‘American Fiction’. This
forms the central plot of the film and is portrayed brilliantly by Jeffrey
Wright. As his emotional curve goes from apathy to annoyance to sheer anger
towards this blatant commercialization of black lives, the ironic hilarity comes
from his consequent success curve that moves in an inversely proportional
direction. Like he says himself in the film “the dumber I behave, the richer
I get”. As Monk pushes the ridiculousness of his story, first calling it "My
Pafology", and then re-christening it to just simply “Fuck”, the scenes with
the publishers, the Hollywood producer, and his literature community get
funnier and funnier.
This side of the story also intermingles beautifully
with his own personal life, which itself challenges his stance that black lives
can be normal. All his life, after living separately from his family, when he is
forced to return to them, he finally sees their inherent broken-ness - in
an ailing mother, a burdened sister, an estranged gay brother, a philandering
father who killed himself, and eventually in his own emotional unavailability. These
moments of Monk with his family and as he finally 'sees' his family and their lives,
for what they are – full of struggle, and hustle, and pain and violence, a kind
of ghetto of its own - are beautiful, tender, and touching and make the film
what it is and truly worth watching.
However, what leaves us unsatisfied, is the lack of
exploring the ‘other side’ of the black fiction perspective. The perspective of
Sintara Golden. While her book is a best-seller, playing to the popular white- American
guilt, which Monk shuns publicly, the author herself doesn’t see it as playing
to the crowds. Instead she sees it as an authentic representation of what black
lives really are in society, and contrasts it to Monk’s more privileged upbringing.
As she assertively says to Monk in the film "Potential is what people see when they think what's in front of them isn't good enough". But, this
side is abruptly brushed under the carpet, and the story goes back to affirming
only Monk’s perspective till the end, resolving only his life and his crisis.
This is what leaves us a little cold and distant as we move into the last
quarter of the film.
A film, that is otherwise so beautifully emotionally open,
ends up being intellectually closed.
But this one flaw notwithstanding, American Fiction is a recommended watch for sure, and another one of those Oscar nominations that got overshadowed this year, by the magnum opus of Oppenheimer (my review https://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2023/07/oppenheimer-2023-movie-review.html).
And
more importantly, a mental note to self to read this author, who’s new book ‘James’
is in fact, just out!
