Starring Jeffrey Wright in one of his most beautifully nuanced performances, American Fiction is both a smart satire about the commodification of marginalized voices and a bittersweet portrait of an artist forced to re-examine the terms of his integrity.

Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Wright) is a respected author and professor of English literature. But his impatience with his students’ cultural sensitivities is threatening his academic standing, while his latest novel is failing to attract publishers; they claim Monk’s writing “isn’t Black enough.” He travels to his hometown of Boston to participate in a literary festival where all eyes are on the first-time author of a bestseller titled We’s Lives In Da Ghetto, a book Monk dismisses as pandering to readers seeking stereotypical stories of Black misery. Meanwhile, Monk’s family experiences tragedy, and his ailing mother requires a level of care neither he nor his unconventional brother (Sterling K. Brown) can afford. One night, in a fit of spite, Monk concocts a pseudonymous novel embodying every Black cliché he can imagine. His agent submits it to a major publisher, who shockingly offers the biggest advance that Monk has ever seen. As the novel is rushed to publication, due to high demand, Hollywood comes courting with a movie deal, and Monk must reckon with a monster of his own making.

Adapted from Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut is a wildly entertaining send-up of our so-called need for authenticity, which is measured and validated by success. Featuring stellar supporting turns from Issa Rae, Erika Alexander, Tracie Ellis Ross and legendary actress Leslie Uggams, American Fiction is a timely reflection on the stories that we invent for ourselves about race, progress, and community, in this brilliant racial parody and incisive literary satire.