Cord Jefferson’s insightful satire of race and media, ‘American Fiction,’ lights up TIFF

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

TORONTO (AP) — Few films have broken out like Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” has at the Toronto International Film Festival.” The film stars Jeffrey Wright as a sharp-witted author who’s told his books “aren’t Black enough.”  “American Fiction” is a funny, jazzy riff on Black representation in books and films that delights in mocking both stereotypes and identity politics while pleading for something more nuanced — something like “American Fiction.” It’s the directorial debut of Jefferson, the Emmy-winning writer of “Succession,” “Master of None” and “Watchmen.” And it’s announced him as a major new voice in movies.