"American Fiction"

Is this a Black film?  Yes.  And no.  And Yes.  It's complicated.  And very, very simple.  PhD literary professor and author Thelonious Ellison refuses to be defined by his race.  But he is, at every turn, defined by his race.  It is shown at very beginning, when a cabbie refuses to pick him up, and continues through to the end of the movie, when three white people override the votes of two Black people on a committee by telling them that "it's important to listen to the voices of Black people right now."  Yeah, the irony here is hip-deep.  It's a smart film, a clever film, and a sometimes uncomfortable film.  It's meant to be.  It's designed to challenge assumptions, to encourage the viewer to see that the African American experience cannot be reduced to stereotypes and caricatures.  That Ellison is Black impacts every aspect of his life is obvious.  But what we are also urged to see is that Ellison's life is simply his life.  He has family, struggles with intimacy, sibling rivalry, issues with an aging parent, you name it.  But all of this doesn't matter to the masses, to the publishers he deals with.  They only see his race.  It's reductive.  His life isn't just far more textured than peoply would assume, it's more than they want to hear about.  The people in his business want to lean into the stereotypes, thinking this is what will sell when we talk about a "Black" author.  The film is well done, funny at times, and, much like Jeffrey Wright (who I kind of adore), the story has a lot more going on than can be seen on the surface.