American Fiction is the film I’ve been waiting for since I majored in ’lm studies at Columbia University more than two decades ago. Only 27 minutes into it, I was compelled to stop, not only so that I could contemplate the beauty and complexity of this quintessential American story, but also because I couldn’t help seeing my own life reflected in its story lines.
The film’s protagonist, Thelo nious “Monk” Ellison (played by Jeffrey Wright), is a writer of literary fiction. But because his work isn’t deemed “Black” enough, it is of little interest to the publishing industry. What’s missing from his writing, as Monk himself acknowledges, are certain kinds of characters: “Black people in poverty, Black people rapping, Black people as slaves, Black people murdered by the police, old soaring narratives about Black folks in dire circumstances. … I mean, I’m not saying
