Kerry Washington's Netflix Movie American Son Gets Premiere Date

When you want to signify that something is a serious work of social commentary, you put "American" in the title. The "American [Thing]" title construction has produced Oscars, Emmys, and Pulitzers. So you know the Netflix movie American Son -- which will reach the platform on Nov. 1 after its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the streaming service announced Tuesday -- will be very serious before you even know anything else about it.

The movie, based on the Broadway play of the same name by Christopher Demos-Brown, stars Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee, all reprising their roles from the stage production. The play's director, Kenny Leon, also directs the movie. American Son follows Kendra Ellis-O'Connor (Washington), the mother of a missing teenage boy, as she waits in a South Florida police station and tries to figure out where her son is. It's about the difficulty of being the parent of a black son in a country where the law is against you.

Netflix also released two photos from the movie.

American Son premieres on Netflix Friday, Nov. 1.