I have become a follower of Sterling K. Brown after watching his stellar performance in ‘This is Us.’ When TV shows and movies keep bombarding your senses from screens of different sizes, it is hard to pick the next best one. Sometimes going through the backlog yields great results. I chanced upon ‘This is Us’ before realizing it was an Emmy winning series. What a beautiful show! I couldn’t resist giving it two thumbs up—Roger Ebert style in my mind—on Netflix. A major take away from the show was Sterling Brown. I have since become a huge fan.
It takes no degree in acting to judge one. Either it comes across as authentic or forced. Sincere emotions travel and connect with viewers. Brown owns his character in that show and infuses it with so much depth that viewers like me fall helplessly in love with the character and the actor.
Naturally, when Brown was nominated for ‘American Fiction,’ I knew it was going on my watch list. Although drastically different from his character in the TV show -- except moms with Alzheimers in both stories -- the way he portrayed Cliff in this movie was nothing less than Oscar-worthy. His nomination was guaranteed. He deserved to win, too.
‘American Fiction’ hits all the right notes with the family dynamics in a refreshingly subtle humor-filled take. Even then, it doesn’t lose its seriousness with the theme of racial biases and stereotypes. The central character, Monk struggles to find success as a writer without playing up his black identity. It becomes almost a tragicomedy when he writes a “black” book as a joke. He falls prey to his own prank. The absurdity of the whole situation demands our wide-eyed disbelief. I loved every bit of the satirical plot twists. The movie could have been called ‘American Nonfiction.’
A great watch, the movie delves deep into some relevant issues in American society in a lighter vein. That’s a tough balance to achieve.
But again, Sterling Brown! What an actor!!
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