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American Fiction
A novelist fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
2023 · Directed by Cord Jefferson · 117 min · Comedy · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 10 frames
Tagline
Once you go full black, you ain't never going back!
Plot
Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a Black elite writer and professor living in Los Angeles. His novels receive academic praise but sell poorly, and his publishers reject his latest manuscript for not being "Black" enough. His college superiors place him on temporary leave due to his brashness with students over racial issues and suggest that he attend a literary seminar in his hometown of Boston. His panel at the seminar is sparsely attended, in contrast to a packed room for an interview with Sintara Golden, whose bestselling novel We's Lives in Da Ghetto shamelessly panders to Black stereotypes.
In Boston, Monk has dinner with his mother Agnes, who shows signs of Alzheimer's disease, and his sister Lisa, a physician. While having drinks with Monk, Lisa suffers a fatal heart attack. Their estranged brother Cliff, a plastic surgeon, attends Lisa's funeral. Newly divorced and out of the closet, Cliff engages in frequent drug use and casual sex. Monk meets Coraline, a lawyer living across the street from his mother's beach house and begins dating her.
Frustrated by the costs of care for his mother and resenting Sintara's success, Monk writes My Pafology, a fake memoir novel mocking the literary stereotypes expected from Black writers: melodramatic plots, deadbeat dads, gang violence, and drugs. After submitting it to publishers out of contempt, he is shocked to be offered a $750,000 advance, which he reluctantly accepts to pay for his mother's care. During a call with a prospective publisher, his agent Arthur improvises a cover story that "Stagg R. Leigh", the pseudonym Monk adopted for the novel, is a wanted fugitive. As "Stagg", Monk is offered a movie deal from film producer Wiley Valdespino. In response to patronizing comments by the publishing executives, Monk tries to sabotage the deal by demanding the title be changed to Fuck, but the publishers concede to his ultimatum. Monk is invited to help judge the New England Book Association's Literary Award as part of a "diversity push" and he reluctantly accepts. Monk is surprised to discover that Sintara is a fellow judge and that she shares many of his views.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Cord Jefferson
- Cinematography: Cristina Dunlap
- Edited by: Hilda Rasula
- Music: Laura Karpman
- Production design: Jonathan Guggenheim
- Produced by: Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Jermaine Johnson, Cord Jefferson
Cast
- Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison
- John Ortiz as Arthur
- Erika Alexander as Coraline
- Leslie Uggams as Agnes Ellison
- Sterling K. Brown as Clifford Ellison
- Skyler Wright as Brittany
- John Ales as Leo
- Patrick Fischler as Mandel
- Carmen Cusack as Gilda
- Joseph Marrella as Matthew Wilson
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: MRC, T-Street, 3 Arts Entertainment, Almost Infinite
- Budget: $16,000,000
- Box office: $22,483,370
- Themes: sibling relationship, boston, massachusetts, writing, race politics, dark comedy, satire, alzheimer's disease, dysfunctional family, pseudonym, family drama
On this film
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