How ‘American Fiction’ highlights a struggling author’s isolation

Thelonious “Monk� Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a literary professor on a leave of absence struggling to sell his book thanks to a publishing industry enamored by pandering tales of the “ Black experience,� novels filled with violence and street slang. Irritated, he writes the “true story� of a convicted gangster under the pen name Stagg R. Leigh. It becomes the next big thing in publishing — something Monk despises.

In framing Cord Jefferson’s feature debut, cinematographer Cristina Dunlap wanted to highlight Monk’s isolation. A wide aspect ratio and long lenses create emptiness around Monk, and then as scenes progress, the camera moves to “pan in all the chaos happening around him.�

This was especially true for when Monk meets Wiley (Adam Brody), a hotshot executive looking to turn his book into a film. “I knew Jeffrey was going to do something brilliant walking into the restaurant transforming into Stagg, so we started on a long lens in his complete isolation and slowly dollied back and zoomed out as he enters,� Dunlap says. “When Jeffrey takes his glasses off and changes his walk and posture to become Stagg, we whip over to reveal Wiley and let Stagg come into the space.� A cooler color temperature and a feeling of dread add to the faux persona environment, each hinting at the unwanted world closing in on him.