"American fiction" was produced for Prime Video and the theatrical release in the Netherlads was very limited. Only 20 art house cinema's, among which the art house in my hometown, showed it a couple of times. I eagerly took advantage of this opportunity.

In "American fiction" a black writer (Thelonious Monk played by Jeffrey Wright) from a middle class background writes about his own experiences. His books do not sell very well because audiences expect drug addiction, teenage pregnancy's and other misery in books by black authors. Frustrated Thelonious writes a book under a pseudonym containing all the stereotypes. Guess what ... the book becomes a big success. The lives of Thelonius and the pseudonym author become ever more entangled, with all the comic possiblities this gives rise to.

The film can be seperated in a story about the pseudonym author and the story about Thelonious himself.

The story about the pseudonym author is the more philosophical one and in my opinion the "raison d'être" of this film. It shows that what seems to be diversity and inclusivity in reality is a lot of stereotypes and the white gaze.

This is illustrated in the most poignant way when a jury of two black writers (under which Thelonious) and three white writers must evaluate the novel of the pseudonym writer. The black writers both say that it is mediocre but the white jury members think we should listen to the black voice .... thereby neglecting their own black colleagues.

The film is based on the novel "Erasure" of Percival Everett published in 2001, so more than 20 years ago. Some reviews are of the opinion that the white gaze has changed in those twenty years and the novel of the pseudonym author would now not be awarded but called "poverty porn". I doubt it.

The story about the real Thelonious is somewhat overcrowded. A gay brother, the death of his sister, a mother diagnosed with Alzheimer disease, al new love affair. Despite all the frictions in the Monk family the story about the real Thelonius is a feel good story from the very beginning. The Monk family can't live with but certainly not without each other.