‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’ Review: A Racial Satire Wittier and More Scalding Than ‘American Fiction’
20.01.2024 - 23:25
/ variety.com
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic For some of us, “American Fiction” has a satirical audacity that’s funny right out of the gate, gathers speed and force on the runway — and then, somehow, just when the comedy should be taking off, it turns muted and moralistic instead. I think the hitch is that after Jeffrey Wright’s Monk sells his fake memoir of Black street life, there’s a strong urge to see him — and the film — take a certain vengeful joy in how the book’s popularity skewers the racism of clueless white people. Instead, Monk is made so miserable by what happens that the movie never allows itself to discover that joy.
Had it done so, it might have been more like “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” a comedy of racial images that’s every bit as witty and scandalous as “American Fiction” (it almost feels like a kind of cousin to Cord Jefferson’s film), only this one follows through on the outrage. The writer-director, Kobi Libii, wants to make us laugh and twist our heads at the same time. He brings it off.
“The American Society of Magical Negroes” is a deftly observant fantasy comedy that stays true to its own irreverence. Yet this one, too, has a serious and circumspect artist at its center. Aren (Justice Smith), based in Los Angeles, makes sculptures out of yarn that the entire world ignores.
And it’s not just the sculptures. In the art-gallery cocktail party that opens the film, Aren, who’s 27, moves through the room with a stilted awkwardness, and we’re cued to see why. The reason he’s so uncomfortable is that no one quite sees him; after all these decades of progress, he’s still the upwardly mobile version of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.