Best Actor 2023: Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction

Jeffrey Wright received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Thelonious "Monk" Ellison in American Fiction. 

American Fiction follows an African American writer as he attempts to publish a new novel while dealing with familial issues. 

As much as we can all criticize the Academy it is hard not to feel more than a bit of joy in getting to see long overdue actors finally get their recognition, particularly for someone like Jeffrey Wright. Wright has been one of the great character actors since the 90's, who has proven his talent again and again, in a variety of roles. So regardless Jeffrey Wright being an Oscar nominated actor feels right, though what about the actual performance? Well for much of the film this is a rather subdued character within Wright's oeuvre, which are frequently more innately emotional or more stylistically intense characters. Where the character of Monk, as we enter the film, is an intellectual writer of apparently middling success who is put on leave from his college professor position due to his willingness to confront students. Wright grants the part the proper balance from the offset as it would be very easy to have overplayed the superiority of the character as the intellectual, whereas Wright manages to still convey that however in a way that is approachable. Wright brings a directness in his delivery, with that particularly wonderful voice of his, but in a way that conveys a certain convincing exasperation of someone who is fed-up with  the sensitivities of others, but also just might be a little fed up with in general. Wright conveys the state of the man as intellectual, but also a man who isn't exactly in the best place either.

And we find that to be the case as he is reprimanded for his candor but also reminded of his lack of published works by his colleagues, before being reminded of them again by his agent (John Ortiz) who informs him his most recent book still can't find a publisher. Wright hits just the right note in balancing a potentially insufferable quality of the author who very much decides what he thinks should be written and has perhaps an inflated sense of the importance of his own work with just also being a man we feel we can care about. Wright's manner conveys the affluent nature of the character and his stature, but he never goes over the top in this manner, like say Damon Wayans did in the very similar Bamboozled. The intelligence is just something he wears with definitely the ever critical eyes of a man who does believe him to be smarter than most, but Wright keeps a trait like this still understated enough that he makes a man rather than an idea of one. Of course this is essential as most of the film is centered around his Monk Ellison as he returns home to his family, going first to see his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross). And this is perhaps where Wright excels the most in this performance, which is just crafting relationships through performance. We are of course told plenty, but what makes it convincing is not what we are just told but more so what we feel between both actors. 

Wright and Ross are honestly great together because every interaction has this unspoken warmth in their connection that suggests the years of being siblings, which isn't to say this is at all just a loving pair. What we see, and will continue to see throughout the film, is that part of the Ellison's family dynamic is their constant desire to riff off one another regardless of the situation. And Wright and Ross are exceptional at portraying this in a way where even when they make some fairly harsh statements about one another, that sense of loving warmth is something even within those one liners. Their chemistry manages to even naturally obscure the amount of exposition in their car ride where we hear about Monk's closer relationship with their father, his degree of distance from both of his younger siblings and his theoretical "abandonment" of the family from having moved to California. It's a whole lot all at once, really too much as written, but it is to the credit to both actors that the conversation is naturally convincing in their interactions even if overstuffed. In fact Wright and Ellis's chemistry is so good, it becomes a bit of a shame in the scheme of the film that Ross exits so quickly due to dying from a surprise heart attack, as their relationship is one I would've liked to have seen more of. But they do create enough immediate investment that the following scene where Monk reads Lisa's own often comical eulogy is moving, where Wright manages to find a pitch perfect tone between showing the heartbreak of reading the words of his sister who is now gone to being quietly amused by her random comic asides. He expresses that bond beautifully, and as quick as the exit is, thanks to the actors, it does make an impact. 

Parallel to this story is the continued exasperation of Monk as he sees his books placed in the wrong section at a bookstore where we get my most hated of Indie film scenes, hassling minimum wage workers for something they have no control over. But forgetting that the bigger thing for Monk is seeing the success of another African American author Sintara Golden (Issae Rae), via a book that he believes plays into all the most obvious negative stereotypes of the African American experience, so Monk writes his book within that expected genre as a joke only to find publishers are interested in it. I'll admit the satire on rewatch wears decidedly thin, because it really does pretty much mainly reuse the same joke of white people being stupid, oblivious, pandering and still condescending all as fairly over the top one note caricatures. Whether it be the excited publishers or the excited director (Adam Brody), they are all saying the same thing of just being completely obsessed with the book immediately. And I do need a quick aside and just say filmmakers as a whole, not just Cord Jefferson, need to get better at making fake movies, as Brody's character's Plantation Annihilation, doesn't sound remotely like any film by a prestigious "issue movie" white director, even twisted to an extreme, it sounds like a trash tubi movie, so just do better in general. ANYWAY, Wright is the best part of this aspect in bringing more genuine comedy in his reactions of just growing exasperation and annoyance at the love of his writing, he believes to be terrible, only seem to give him more fame and more money. However the ruse goes beyond the book, as he's also tasked with playing the author of the book, the wanted convict Stagg R. Leigh. Wright fashions the "street" persona wanted by publishers where he puts on a false physical intensity mixed in with over the top voice of the "hood". This too is broad, but Wright sells it well as a man like Monk would fashion his own stereotype, creating an amusing caricature for a few different relatively brief scenes. 

Anyway back to the family drama, and if you thought that transition was sudden, just watch the film that doesn't all that naturally bounce back and forth between the storylines. But after the death of his sister Monk ends up being tasked with dealing with his drug addict formerly closeted brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown), his mother who is suffering from dementia (Leslie Uggams), and the lingering memory of his father who had committed suicide, making one wonder if Monk's family really lived in Boston and not in fact the nearby Manchester By The Sea. Anyway what the film explores is this man who separated himself from his family and now has to deal with all of it at once. Where Wright excels is developing every relationship separate unto itself though convincing as such. His relationship with his brother Cliff is well realized also by both actors, as you too get the similar sardonic connection though I think what Brown and Wright do effectively is separate the chemistry from Wright and Ellis, by bringing a bit more intensity between the sardonic one. One liners that I do think the film over uses and misuses at times, and really just sometimes the one liners just aren't great. Regardless of their overall quality though Wright always delivers them with a real honesty, and timing, even when the joke is never going to work, Wright always sells it to the best of his ability. The distance and connection between the brothers is a given in each of their scenes together, where we see more than anything the separation is of Monk's ideal view of his parents against his siblings who see their parents as much more flawed. A concept that I think is a little underwritten in certain aspect, most notably their father's suicide that strangely seems like a muted point within the film. Where this is made up for is Wright's moments with their mother where Wright is terrific in just portraying a direct loving warmth with his mom, and shows no complication. Even when she deteriorates from her condition, Wright's performance is always as the deeply caring son even as his brother constantly expresses far more complicated feelings. Wright's performance in this relationship though works in presenting a lack of direct complication of the sense of love, even if in his expression Wright also quietly portrays the sort of contemplation in certain moments of essentially a man trying to entirely figure out what was going on with his family that he failed to see, or perhaps ignored for some time. Although the biggest challenge to Monk ends up being his sudden romance with a Boston moment Coraline (Erika Alexander), who honestly comes on to him. Wright and Alexander though do have a romantic chemistry that works by providing an understated honesty in their interactions which don't make this sudden intense romance. The romance rather is of two people who have been around long enough to maturely pursue it in this way. Monk though eventually is confronted by his ego when he finds that Coraline is reading Monk's own joke book and likes it. Wright suddenly accentuates every dismissive quality and sense of superiority in the scene as he expresses disregard in his attitude. Presenting really what has always been Monk, but really at his worst as articulates his thoughts as though only his thoughts matter. Of course all these threads are only sorta resolved, I guess, as even the film chooses to have it both ways or three ways really. But hey life doesn't always resolve, which is a lame excuse for a film if it tries to cover too many threads....anyway I don't dislike the film but it does have some serious holes in there. Either way Wright isn't one of them, in fact the consistent honesty of his work  as Monk through every tonal shift, every relationship, every scene, keeps the film together. While I wouldn't call it his best performance, it's a very good one from him, and writing Academy Award nominee Jeffrey Wright, just feels as it should be.