Winning an Oscar for Best Screenplay is almost as good as winning one for Best Director. It keeps the film alive and points out what really drives a great movie. This year, two stellar examples (“Anatomy of a Fall” and “American Fiction”) demonstrated the point.
“Oppenheimer” may have won Best Picture and Best Director but it ceded the writing prize to “American Fiction.” Written by Cord Jefferson, the comedy was a great look at society and the shifts that people face. Theolonious “Monk” Ellison is a respected scholar and lecturer but what does he do when his novels tank and his teaching career is at a standstill? At a book fair, he notices who draws the crowd: a street-heavy story called “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.
” This image released by MGM shows Jeffrey Wright in a scene from "American Fiction." (Claire Folger/MGM-Orion via AP) Claire Folger The author is someone with a prestigious background, not a tough life in the inner city. Does he sell out and follow her lead? Or does he rail against stereotypes and plot a different course? That’s the fun of “American Fiction.
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It’s obvious what sells but Jefferson, who also directed, makes the journey so compelling you won’t be able to guess how Ellison wraps it up. With Jeffrey Wright as the torn writer, “Fiction” is even more intriguing. He can play both offended and offensive with equal ease and isn’t above sinking low for a shot at success.
Life gets sticky, how.
