American Fiction movie review

MOVIE TITLE: American Fiction

This comedy/drama is now playing in theaters.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 57 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A

IN A NUTSHELL:

The story is based on Percival Everett’s book called “Erasure.”

This is director Cord Jefferson’s debut! He’s off to a great start! He also wrote the screenplay with Percival Everett. The film has already won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. In total, it has received 90 nominations and already won 29! Well deserved.

THINGS I LIKED:

Jeffrey Wright is absolutely terrific and does an excellent job carrying this film.
The rest of the cast is also fantastic and includes Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Keith David, and more.
I’m always fascinated by movies about writers. I’m an author of 31 books (you can find them all on Amazon from various publishers…shameless plug), so I love seeing how they’re portrayed in films. You can search for my books by using my nane: Trina Boice.
The movie absolutely pokes fun at white people who seem to know more about being black than actual black people.
It was heartbreaking to watch the family navigate an aging mother with Alzheimer’s Disease. My family just went through that and had to say goodbye last fall. Those scenes were hard to watch for me. There are so many decisions that a family needs to make during those difficult times, and I thought the film did a good job illustrating that.
There is a lot of clever, satirical humor that pokes fun at society, race, and culture.
I love the ending of the film that shows several endings.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

I really enjoyed this.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be bored.
The “N” word is used.
Profanity, including many F-bombs, which also happens to be the name of a book that’s talked about a lot in the story.
Talk of gay sex. We see two gay men kiss.
We see a lot of shirtless men.
Lots of gunshots that result in a bloody death.

THEMES:

Black literature
Judging literature
Family relationships
Storytelling
Race
Identity
Forgiveness
Alzheimer’s
Death and dying
The story of blacks in America today
Talk of a mother in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s

FUNNY LINES:

“The blackest thing about this is the ink.” – Monk (Jeffrey Wright)
“I’m happy you’re not white.” – Agnes Ellison (Leslie Uggams) “Me too.” – Coraline (Erika Alexander)
“What if he recognizes me?” – Monk “Monk, you’re not that famous.” – Arthur (John Ortiz)
“He said you’re the real deal, taking off the moment you heard police sirens.” – Arthur (John Ortiz)

INTERESTING LINES:

“You know, I don’t really believe in race.” – Monk “Yeah? Unfortunately, everyone else does.” – Arthur (John Ortiz)
“Books change people’s lives.” – Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross)
“Look at what they expect us to write.” – Monk (Jeffrey Wright)
“White people think they want the truth but they don’t. They just want to feel absolved.” – Arthur (John Ortiz)
“Most people want something easy.” – Arthur (John Ortiz)
“We’re also more than this.” – Monk (Jeffrey Wright)
“Potential is what people see when what’s in front of them isn’t good enough.” – Sintara Golden (Issa Rae)
“I haven’t been myself lately.” – Monk (Jeffrey Wright)