American Fiction

Plots: A novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from Black entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain. Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write his own outlandish “Black” book–that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain. Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is a brilliant professor and author. However, his novels are not selling well. Frustrated with the system that thrives on overused and offensive stereotypes and those who think his work is not Black enough, Monk takes a break from teaching and decides to give the publishers what they want. Under a pseudonym, Monk crafts a book to turn the tables on the rapacious entertainment industry, but his preposterous parody eventually gains unexpected popularity. Now caught in a whirlwind of controversy and conflicting emotions, can Monk confront the very system he set out to criticise from the inside?