Wrighting The Writer - - American Fiction (2023, USA, Color, 117 min) - - 12 February 2012

Recommended. Jeffery Wright (Cadillac Records) is one of our best actors and if the Academy decides that American Fiction awards him that statuette . . . I won't be upset. Wright plays Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison, a name redolent of two African-American geniuses and in that, we realize that American Fiction is one . . . a satirical folk tale and not real. This is confirmed near the end, when Monk changes the conclusion of the movie several times. I know, you gotta be there. The fiction does not keep writer/director (and Tucson native) Cord Jefferson from constructing some wonderfully real characters to bounce off Monk, particularly his dementia-suffering mother, delightfully played by Leslie Uggams (Roots) and his gay brother Cliff (also Oscar^© nominated Sterling K. Brown, Black Panther). Most of the white characters are inane but should not be taken seriously.  Despite this American Fiction, is a charming picture only diminished by the rather feckless ending.