1/14/24 - American Fiction (2023) - 7/10

(I lost my notes for this) Jeffrey Wright is wonderful here in this dark comedy about defining blackness within the context of the white gaze and its exploitation therein, in a bitingly laugh out loud way. As a white viewer, I felt trapped in the meta narrative and the push/pull of it all, but it tells its own witty and rich story without my intrusive guilt-ridden overlay.

Though a lot of the best jokes are in the trailer, it smashes through with heart and humor. It is about exposing these paradigms that talented artists struggle with their race defining their work, be that work being about blackness & black culture or not. I felt a little out of my depth, sheepishly trying to expound upon a cycle that I can’t help but feel a part of, as I watch a film about a family that isn’t about blackness but the narrative gets wrapped up in it anyways.

Sterling K. Brown delivers another performance that makes you want to inject him into every new project coming out, while Wright highlights his lack of vital usage in the landscape of film and television because he is just so damned talented - forceful in his funny and feeling. Its lively and penetrating, with some meta flourishes that mostly work, but even when they don’t fully land they keep things fresh and provide a motivated excitement.