Although Ferrari and American Fiction are ostensibly each about difficult families, these two films couldn’t be further apart. After hearing an interview with Adam Driver, who plays Mr. Ferrari, I broke my own rule and went into that movie with high expectations. Driver described how director Michael Mann was so into detail that he would put nine microphones on a car to get the exact sound. That may be true, but great engine revving sounds don’t excuse the many sins of this forgettable, formulaic film.
My first issue is with authenticity. Why did all of the actors have to speak in English with bad Italian accents? The only person who really pulled this off in any way was Mr. Driver. A combination perhaps of his undeniable talent and the fact that he doesn’t speak so much. When Shailene Woodley tried this trick, I had the visceral reaction of hearing nails on a chalkboard. Instead of making me think that this was an Italian story, I just kept thinking, “Why are all these actors speaking English so poorly?”
It didn’t even seem that Penélope Cruz tried, instead relying on her natural Spanish accent. That didn’t work for me either. I heard Sean Penn praising her performance recently and had to wonder if he had seen the movie at all. Cruz does play her part admirably but the entire time I was thinking, “Isn’t Penélope Cruz a great actress?” She cried and screamed and shot a gun in this flattened melodramatic one note of a character, trapped in two dimensions.
After an illustrious career, it may be time for Michael Mann to hang up the directing megaphone. Especially if he is going to be phoning them in. Even the racing scenes, which had their moments, didn’t expand on the cinematic style we saw in Ron Howard’s 2013 film Rush, starring Chris Hemsworth. Meanwhile, one of Mann’s contemporaries, Ridley Scott, convincingly pulled off Napoleon this year. I enjoyed that film. But we were given a heads up by our friend F to read Napoleon as a comedy. And it was funny. Including plenty of slapstick. Maybe Mann was just taking everything too seriously?
Unlike Mann’s portrayal of the Ferrari famiglia, the characterization of the Ellison family of American Fiction is far more nuanced. The film, based on a Percival Everett novel, explores the loyalties, alliances, jealousies, secrets and not-so-secrets amongst the parents and children, who have a difficult time simply communicating, showing vulnerability.
Although the children are each ‘doctors’ (a GP, a plastic surgeon, and a professor), professional achievement doesn’t necessarily translate into familial harmony. Indeed, according to the youngest son, Cliff (Sterling K. Brown), “This family will break your heart.” Cliff delivers the line as he makes his way to a taxi in the rain, having had his own heart just broken in at least two different ways. And the line and sentiment just hangs in the theater, sending a chill down your spine.
The drama unfolds with a focus on the precarious trajectory of Cliff’s brother, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright). Monk is a professor and a writer, who takes a leave of absence in Boston to work through some professional and personal issues. A dominant issue for Monk and for the film is trying to navigate the increasingly opaque state of American race relations as a Black American.
Remarkably, this all adds up to being an at times fun movie. The laughs are inspired from a wide spectrum of humor including awkward situations and biting social commentary.
D brought up one of my favorite movies in relation to American Fiction, Robert Townsend’s classic Hollywood Shuffle. I remember working as a camera assistant on a TV series called South of Nowhere. The directors for the series changed for each episode, and one week the great Robert Townsend took the helm. I remember that he was always whistling or singing. He seemed happy, like a man with a song in his heart. In Hollywood Shuffle, Townsend used humor to capture the pain of black people who are not taken seriously as actors in stories other than those solely depicting stereotypical, impoverished, ghetto scenarios.
I thoroughly enjoyed American Fiction. Like the novel, it plays in a realm of metanarrative, it deals with current social issues with humor, care and poignancy. But like any great movie, the characters become alive, the characters become real. The alchemy of the written word synthesizing with inspired performances is magic to behold. I hope you can get to the theater and check it out.
L&D Report 