There are two films running more or less concurrently in American Fiction, a singular directorial debut from Cord Jefferson, former journalist (including time as an editor at Gawker, RIP) and Emmy-winning television writer (for his work on HBO’s Watchmen).

AMERICAN FICTION ★★★(3/4 stars)
Directed by: Cord Jefferson
Written by: Cord Jefferson
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, John Ortiz, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody
Running time: 117 mins.

One is bittersweet and reflective in nature and will be familiar to readers of Percival Everett’s 2001 source novel Erasure; it’s a nuanced drama that tells the story of a once prominent Black Boston family fractured by tragedy, illness, and debt.

The other is a biting and cynical satire familiar to those who have come across the marketing for American Fiction, which won the coveted People’s Choice award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. It’s a black comedy about the way that publishing reduces the vastness of the Black experience into patois-laden “trauma porn” about drug dealing, deadbeat dads, and unwanted pregnancies to placate white ideas about what it means to be African American.

Not only do the two films barely meet, they also often feel in competition with........

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