AMERICAN FICTION

A sharp satire about a Black novelist who, fed up with the publishing industry’s appetite for stereotypes, writes an outrageous parody of so-called Black life under a pen name. The joke backfires when the book becomes a runaway hit he can’t control. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, whose attempt to expose hypocrisy collides with his own family turmoil. Based on Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” the film blends humor and bite as it examines who gets to define authenticity in American culture. It won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and 64 other awards.