Every year an incredibly strong debut comes along that becomes a dark horse in the Oscar race and these films are sometimes often relegated solely to screenplay nominations or wins – my beloved May December for one falls in the line for Samy Burch where the film only received that writing nom – however there are those years where these debuts are paired with such incredibly strong performances and beloved actors that they become serious talking points in the Oscar race. This year such a film was found in the brilliant American Fiction, with the debut of Cord Jefferson and a major leading role for Jeffrey Wright, which I’m sure any fan would say is certainly overdue.
One of the strongest writing debuts of the year came in a sort of surprise way with the delightful American Fiction, which some of course have described as critic proof. More specifically ‘white critic proof’. Fiction is the very strong writing and directorial debut of Cord Jefferson adapting the novel Erasure by Percival Everett with a typical Springtime for Hitler formula for a modern audience studying the way in which the black experience is often depicted on screen and in pop culture. The film really does feature some of the stronger and funnier satire of recent years, but for me is paced at a disadvantage due to the main thrust of the film being the family drama of our lead character – and it is race aside where this film does grow critic proof, because every step of the way I enjoyed this film family drama and was touched by it and for that matter also saw the very obvious intentional juxtaposition of showing the sorts of black stories that don’t often get told on this big a level. It’s wholly intentional and the family drama side of things offers some of the stronger performances of the ensemble and further exemplifies Jefferson’s immense talents. My only issue is in a sort of hoisted by the films own petard quality that the satire and publishing side of the story is so incredibly funny and so incredibly deft, witty and entertaining that the family drama scenes begin to pail in the direct comparison the film offers. But… this is the film’s entire point and the family drama scenes are still very effective. So am I making a mute point? I don’t exactly think I am, because overall critically I do think the balance of the stories is simply just tilted a little bit the wrong way, moving away from the film’s incredible strengths for a series of scenes that although effective, are something we have seen many times before, perhaps not through the black experience, but certainly on a general human level.
Wright is
sublime here and deserves every single bit of acclaim that he is dutifully
receiving, offering with his performance both the tender drama and intelligent
pathos that he has offered so many roles before, but also an intentional caricature
performance imitation that drives home the humour of the film to its death nail
and gives a believability as the plot grows slightly more outlandish at each
turn. Sterling K. Brown has also been receiving an awful lot of acclaim and he
is great himself, but for me his element of the story felt slightly
underdeveloped to say that of course the whole point of having his sub-plot in
the film was to present a story that isn’t typically presented. All the same
Brown is great and although he wouldn’t have been my fifth nomination, it’s
very solid work. But an earlier role that landed better for me was the
wonderful Tracee Ellis Ross who in her shorter amount of screen time solidifies
a bevy of dynamics in the family circle and gives such a wonderful generous
performance as we at this stage must learn more and more of Wright’s Monk
character. John Ortiz and Issa Rae are two further great performances that were
so brilliant in the first half or so of the film that perhaps unfairly I felt
weren’t given stronger conclusions to their characters. Ortiz less so a
conclusive scene, more so more of the great work he was doing, but with Rae’s
character being so fundamental to the arc and the intentionality of some of the
politics of the screenplay felt a little forced in her final conversations with
Monk that offered little actual resolution of ideas and instead felt a little
bit like hiding away some of the more provocative and complex sides of the
story the film was telling. But bar a few things already noted most of my
problems with American Fiction was wanting more of the really great
stuff and less of the perfectly solid, which is by no means a bad issue for a
film to have, but for me it’s still an issue all the same.
A true 8/10 debut which isn’t for me exactly as even a meal as some critics are finding it. The satire is just so strong here and so enjoyable that everything else just feels unfairly lesser in the overall combination of things. Wright is just as good however as everyone is saying and is the anchor of drama, emotion, intelligence and at times over-the-top humour that is exactly what Jefferson needed to make this tightrope film reach the other side, even if for me it wasn’t a flawless finish.
P.S. Certain stylistic elements too with the film I feel were spent far earlier than they still had juice for. For instance the wonderful work of Keith David in a brief moment where the action of My Pafology is visualised. Not only is it wonderful to have Mr David around doing his normal great work. But to be honest it felt like a set-up for some sort of running gag that worked for me that never came to pass. Now perhaps if it were dragged out throughout the film it could have grown stale. But can more Keith David ever grow stale?
- Thomas Carruthers
0 Comments