American Fiction Review

        Another year has passed and so many good films that I’ve watched in the theater. I think this year is tied with last year due to how much I’ve watched in the theater, my local film club and in the free time that I had when I’m not doing this. If there’s one thing to note was that this was the year of the sequels. While I will talk about one of the sequels, I feel that it’s time to talk about the best films that I’ve seen and the ones that were under the radar. All this month will be just about that. 

1. Monk’s Bibliographical Conundrum 

        I’m cheating with this one since it came out last year, but my city finally had the chance to screen it. The trailer for the film is interesting since it has the author create a white lie and it blows up in his face from a book he wrote. Seemingly it had that schadenfreude aspect like The Producers since the author decides to write something he knows is bad but becomes successful. Little did I know that it’s so much more than that. 

        We follow Thelonius who is nicknamed Monk, he’s a brash author/professor who goes to Boston to visit his family. He attends a book festival and sees another black author Sintara who is promoting her book on her interpretation of the African American experience and gets frustrated at the adulation she receives. Meanwhile, Monk wrestles with his family as he feels financially burdened to care for his ailing mother. To remedy it, he decides to write his own book in the style of what he read. From there, hilarity ensues. 

        There’s a lot to unpack in this comedy, but I should state that this isn’t a type of comedy where it’s a gut buster and you’ll be writing on the floor. What makes the film work is that we see Monk wrestle with his unexpected popularity of his book and what’s going on in his personal life. I love how there’s a balance between the absurdity of the book and the charm/sadness with what’s going in Monk’s personal life. I feel that in one way the film is one of those rare ones where it has a commentary on how to tell a story and how a group of audience will gobble up a specific story. 

        While I’ll talk about that interesting aspect of the film, I really do like just how Monk gets wrapped up in the book’s success. He’s not a perfect protagonist since he gets annoyed at books that he deems as beneath him and how he feels not in touch with his family. For as much as he hates the African American stereotypes that is deemed popular, in a meta sense his story in the film is very much like that. It’s the whole package of sins of the father, alienation, and wrestling with himself of being who he is to name a few. 

        For the comedic moments it’s great that we see just how much Monk puts up with when his book becomes his best seller for all the wrong reasons. It’s established that Monk writes great academic books but nobody buys them. Which in turn makes him create a pen name and create a personality that is everything he hates. Just seeing it led to the book being sold and even get a movie deal is hilarious since Monk can’t fathom how far the whole endeavor is taking him.  Just the moment between him and the movie producer is hilarious as he tries to have a tough exterior but is completely making it up as he goes.

2. Selling Out

        Aside from Monk’s initial storyline, what I find interesting is that the whole film is like a takedown of the perceived stories of African Americans in pain and bondage. Ones where the only good storylines is when there’s so much misery and death that it’ll make an emo teenager blush. Now, that’s not to say that all those stories are bad but ones where they’re commercially successful enough where we feel for Monk since there’s not one where there’s at least a happy ending. There’s even a moment when he sees a commercial for a movie marathon but it’s mostly for movies that have the same downtrodden trope that has become ubiquitous among the African American stories

        As I mentioned earlier, Monk’s story is very meta with how it hits the usual black story. With how it’s dealt with is by having him be a part of the list of judges to select the winner of a prestigious book award. Of course, the judges is predominantly white with Monk and Sintara being the ones to have the whole group be diverse. It’s funny in a sense, where the white judges picked the books and speak highly of them where Monk and his associate think it’s too on the nose. 

        Speaking of Sintara, I just love how Monk gets so annoyed that he takes his books in a bookstore and literally tries to move them preferable. Only to see that Sintara’s new book is on a special cardboard display. The whole film has these two characters apart until they’re selected as the judges. The best scene in the whole film is when both are in the room together alone. 

        I just love how there’s a clear contrast between them based on what they’re eating. Simply, Monk asks her why she doesn’t see her book as pandering as his. The back and forth between them perfectly shows the situation and one where there’s no clear resolution on the whole matter. I think it’s better since it’s not preachy about it or has an inherent message of what’s right and wrong. Just how anyone is responsible for buying the stories that keep getting published and released. Even better is that Monk hasn’t even read her book to adequately have an honest opinion on it but just argues on just the concept of it.

        I think in some way people want a resolution of this idea of being a sellout. With how the ending deals with it is up to interpretation. Not to detail the types of ending that we got since the whole film is like what Monk wrote in his foray into film. It highlights that while Monk sold out, he still maintains who he is and is merely going with what sells for the people to watch. I think it’s great since Monk himself hasn’t changed but goes along with it. 

3. Overall

        American Fiction is one the best films of last year, but the best original film of this year.