The people have spoken: Amuse them and there will be acclaim, hence the bestowing of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) People’s Choice Award on a screen adaptation that’s fueled by wit, sarcasm, and tepid drama. It’s blatant cynicism—those who aren’t Black are buying Black books that are filled with tropes, cliches, and stereotypes that fulfill previously conceived notions. The Black authors who pander to that crowd for big bucks deserve scorn, too. That’s the driving force in Percival Everett’s book “Erasure: A Novel.”
That’s the theme and storyline screenwriter Cord Jefferson (Emmy winner for “Watchmen”) uses as he attempts to transform a bleak comic tome into a big-screen comedy.
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is an intellectual, author, and college professor. He hasn’t written a book that’s made a penny in years. He has a beef. Writers like Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) are making a fortune by peddling blaxploitation books like “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.” He’s pissed. So pissed that he strikes back by writing a mock novel in the same genre, under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh. Surprise:
He becomes a bestselling author, too. But he’s ashamed, especially when he visits his family in New England.
Jefferson’s script weaves in Monk’s personal life: elderly mother (Leslie Uggams), gay brother (Sterling K. Brown), budding romance (Erika Alexander, “Get Out,” “Living Single”), ambitious agent (John Ortiz), and put-upon sister (Tracee Ellis Ross). The irony and ridicule aren’t consistently laugh-out-loud funny, and the family drama is shallow at times, like TV’s “This Is Us.” However, the screenplay does skewer the haughty, enigmatic world of Black establishment literature, where being scholarly, envious, and competitive is a norm and hawking manuscripts a constant challenge.
Book fans and buppies may find it all entertaining. Others may yawn.
Jefferson’s direction is very standard issue and doesn’t show much style, although he certainly has command of this production. The cinematography (Christina Dunlap) features lighting that glares when it could be subtle. The musical soundtrack is filled with soul music that breathes life into scenes that otherwise would be dull. For every negative, there’s a positive.
This is more a character study built around self-involved archetypes than an engrossing movie with consistent momentum and deep emotions. It’s hard to like anyone in this urbane, literature-focused fable, and once you note the social implications and family schisms, and giggle a bit, there’s nothing left to ponder. The white audiences who adored “Get Out” may have the same glee for this parody, even if they don’t realize that the joke is on them.
If this ambitious foray into the Black book business community has a saving grace, it’s the always amazing lead actor. Wright mimics egghead professors and fake ghetto writers with a zest that makes the footage worth a watch even when it doesn’t deserve it.
As one sardonic character puts it: “Potential is what people see when what’s in front of them isn’t good enough.” “American Fiction” has great potential.
To watch the trailer, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBNuzV4sF0
For more info about the Toronto International Film Festival, visitwww.tiff.net.