American Fiction (2023)

I remember a time, back in high school, when I had to write a book report. I thought I did a great job, I worked on it for a long time, and I felt happy with the end result. The teacher handed the report back to me and told ne I had to redo it. Now, I cannot recall how well my original piece was then (I vaguely remember citing specific examples from the text and trying hard to write a proper report, as opposed to a plot summary, but maybe it wasn’t good), but I can tell you what happened next. I felt that I had already put enough time and effort into something I had to completely rewrite. I decided to multi-task during my lunch break, delivering a page or so of what I considered to be absolute twaddle, phrases that my friends and I were laughing about as  I wrote them down. That second incarnation of my book report received depressingly positive feedback, and that is when I realised that you sometimes need to write what people are expecting from you, rather than your absolute truth. It may have also started me on the path away from academia, and the conformity required until you make a unique impact that cannot be ignored.

While this may not seem connected to American Fiction, it really is. This is the tale of a black American writer (Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, played by Jeffrey Wright) who finds himself struggling to sell books in a market that he doesn’t want to be a part of. Resenting the label of “black literature”, with the stereotypes and “trauma porn” often contained within it, Monk seems destined to maintain his integrity at the expense of any major sales opportunities. Until he plays a big hole on everyone, writing a novel full of the kind of garbage that he hates to read, and using the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh. It is, of course, a huge success, and it just gets more and more praise as Monk tries to make it, and his character, more and more like the content he is mocking.

Based on a book, “Erasure”, by Percival Everett, this is a hell of a directorial debut from Cord Jefferson, who also adapted the source material into screenplay form. Picking at the frayed strands that have been woven together over centuries to make the mixed and vibrant quilt of the USA, nobody here is looking to offer easy answers to things like racial profiling, white guilt, the intersection of art and commerce, and the permission to use the lives of others as inspiration for creative endeavours, among other topics broached. But sometimes you don’t need, and may never get, definitive answers, especially from art. Sometimes it is enough to ask the questions.

Wright is brilliant in a lead role that feels like just the thing he has been long overdue. His character is bitter and acerbic throughout, but he has extra pressures on him, as well as a number of valid points about what he sees going on around him (all underlined by the fact that his joke starts to look like it will be an unstoppable success). There’s a great supporting cast, all holding their own alongside Wright, but other highlights include Sterling K. Brown (a gay sibling working through his feelings in a very different way), Erika Alexander (as Coraline, a potential love interest, but also a reader who has enjoyed previous books written by Monk), John Ortiz (an agent who disapproves of the new book until it gains major traction and sales interest), and Issa Rae (as a successful author, Sintara Golden, who seems to write the exact kind of material that Monk cannot stand). There are also excellent turns from Leslie Uggams (an ailing mother), Myra Lucretia Taylor, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Tracee Ellis Ross, Keith David (basically a cameo, but some Keith David is better than no Keith David), and Adam Brody.

Funny, thought-provoking, moving, and somehow galvanized by the fact that it springboards from a very observable reality all around us, American Fiction is a superb blend of satire and pathos, and I am all the happier if it gives a well-earned boost to the profiles of everyone involved, especially Wright.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Catfight (2016)

All I knew about Catfight before I started watching it was that a) I had owned it for a while and b) it involved a fight between Sandra Oh and Anne Heche at some point. That's it. Surprisingly, this turned out to be a very darkly comedic film, taking a number of different fights as a way to completely change the lives of those involved.

Oh plays Veronica. She's quite happy with her life, supporting a successful husband and trying to dissuade her son from his interests in art in order for him to pursue a more successful path through higher education. Her main vice is drink. She tends to drink a bit too much when she starts on the wine, and gets a bit sloppy. This irritates her husband more than she knows, an irritation that is voiced as they are en route to a party. Heche plays Ashley, an artists who refuses to compromise her vision, even as her focus puts a strain on her relationship with her partner, Lisa (Alicia Silverstone). Ashley ends up helping out with bar service at the party Veronica is attending. The two eventually recognise one another from school days, with the conversation quickly turning into one full of barbs and vitriol. And that eventually leads to the first fight.

So, unless I am misremembering things already, there are three main fights scattered throughout Catfight, three times when characters have an opportunity to do things differently, and three times when things may change irrevocably for those involved. And this is part of the message being delivered by writer-director Onur Tukel, as well as an exploration of how people politely interact with others that they dislike, how they treat everyone around them, and how things can come undone when the illusion of civility disappears.

Starting in a fairly recognisable reality, Catfight dives further into the black comedy territory when the aftermath of the first fight is shown. From then on, it continues to get more twisted and amusing, all the way to an ending that manages to be wryly amusing, sad, and pointed all at once. Kudos to Tukel for shading the tone so subtly throughout and making the whole thing such a success, in terms of both simple entertainment and the commentary.

Oh and Heche are both very good in the lead roles, with the latter especially enjoying playing a character who is downright monstrous for most of her time onscreen (although Oh also certainly has her moments). Silverstone is very funny in her supporting role, especially in a scene that shows her receiving baby shower gifts (leading to her delivering some scathing critical comments with a sweet tone and a smile), and there are also good performances from Amy Hill, as an aunt of Oh's character, Myra Lucretia Taylor, as Oh's housekeeper, and Ariel Kavoussi, stealing a number of her scenes as the quietly-spoken assistant to Heche's character.

From the title, and from considering the potential of the premise, Catfight may seem like a wish-fulfilment kind of movie. A dream scenario, people saying what they really want to say and taking the gloves off. But that's not really a wish that anyone will want granted, and the dream can very quickly turn into a nightmare. Tukel makes that very clear. I'll be making sure to check out more from his filmography, and hope to be pleasantly surprised again.

8/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.