One of the best movies from 2023 is already at risk of being forgotten about, but it deserves a new wave of appreciation. Normally, scoring a nomination for Best Picture elevates a movie to a new level of popularity, but 2023 was an unusually competitive year at the Oscars, so some contenders were crowded out.
With the likes ofOppenheimer, Poor ThingsandThe Zone of Interestin the running for Best Picture, not every nominee received enough attention. Despite a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score and five Oscar nominations, one of the year’s best movies has already started to slip into obscurity. Hopefully, it will find its audience before too long.
American Fiction Was Never A Serious Contender For Best Picture, But It’s Still A Masterpiece
With A Budget Of $10 Million, American Fiction Was Never Going To Be The Biggest Movie
Oppenheimereventually took home Best Picture, butAmerican Fictiondeserved more attention in the Oscars race. Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut was a much smaller movie, making just $23 million at the box office, but this doesn’t reflect its quality.
American Fictionis based onErasureby Percival Everett, with Jeffrey Wright delivering an outstanding performance as a struggling author whose literary act of protest gets wildly out of hand. The story delves into some scathing satire about the publishing industry, but its ideas also apply to Hollywood, other forms of media and society at large.
American Fictionnever loses sight of its satirical edge, but it also has a heartfelt family drama woven into its narrative. The characters all feel real and deeply nuanced, even if they live in a world very much like our own, with all of its ridiculous charades and contradictions.
No matter what comes next for Cord Jefferson,American Fictionis an astonishingly confident debut. His script is a masterful adaptation of Everett’s book, translating his themes to the big screen without mangling them, and his smart, smooth direction provides the framework for some unforgettable scenes, like Monk’s first writing session.
American Fiction’s Ending Solidifies Its Status As One Of The Best Movies Of The 2020s So Far
American Fiction Saves The Best For Last
The ending ofAmerican Fictionputs the icing on the cake of an underappreciated masterpiece.The playful twists and turns in the multiple endings work on many levels, urging the audience to interrogate the story more closely, while questioning their own assumptions and expectations.
American Fictionmanages to have its cake and eat it too, as it indulges in the mind-bending fun of its multiple endings while also providing something more definitive to ponder. It’s only right at the end thatAmerican Fictionreveals itself to be a movie about the making of itself, which casts the whole story in a new light.
