American Fiction

Jeffrey Wright

Cord Jefferson's American Fiction, his debut feature, is a worthy adaptation of Perceval Everett's 2001 novel Erasure. Jefferson has successfully reworked the book, changing the setting and adding a few characters. The film condenses Everett's acidic literary satire, but expands the ambivalent emotional ties of the main character, a buttoned down academic and novelist named Thelonious "Monk" Ellison. Monk writes sophisticated literary fiction with Classical themes, but economic circumstances and his loathing of contemporary African-American fiction goad him into writing a potboiler with a high body count, originally entitled My Pafology. 

This book achieves a critical and popular success that far outstrips any of Monk's previous works. Monk assumes a persona of an unrepentant thug in order to sell the book making him, like the protagonist of his namesake's most famous work, an invisible man. The satire of academia and the book publishing industry remain largely intact, but the scabrous tone of Everett is watered down. There is an interesting sequence of Monk conjuring up a scene of his O. G. characters, but it stands alone. The tone of the film overall is more timid and less sulphuric than the book. 

On the plus side, Jefferson's sense of timing and his handling of his talented cast keeps American Fiction from devolving into a soap opera about family dynamics between buppies. Jeffrey Wright is one of our finest American stage and screen actors, but lacks the finger in the socket charisma that connotes a movie star. However, this makes him a perfect fit for the tight assed Monk. Wright's facial manipulations. raised eyebrows and furrowed brows, perfectly convey an introverted character seething with resentment at a world wallowing in ignorance. When Wright as Monk shifts into his ghettoized persona, the audience can't help but feel the joy of a master performer cutting loose. 

Jefferson also elicits solid performances from the talented supporting cast, especially Sterling K. Brown, Erika Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and John Ortiz. Jefferson seems to lack the visual ingenuity needed to be a top rank filmmaker. Certainly American Fiction lacks a correlative to the literary mastery Everett displays in Erasure. American Fiction does show Jefferson's talent for honing dialogue and coordinating an ensemble. Jefferson deserves credit for bringing the work of Perceval Everett out of its relative neglect. Now it's someone else's turn to adapt an Ishmael Reed novel!