Given my predilection for seeing as many Oscar-nominated films and performance as possible before the ceremony, it was inevitable I would rush out to see Affliction, particularly since it was showing at the newly refurbished four-plex 1 mile from my house.
This Paul Shrader film is one of the darkest movies of 1998. It examines the consequences of alcoholic parenting. The drunken dad is James Coburn, the conflicted drinking son is Nick Nolte and the rarely seen teetotaler/narrator son is Wilem Dafoe. Nolte is up for best actor, Coburn for best supporting actor (amusingly, Coburn is quoted as saying this is the first time in his career a director has actually asked him to act).
I know the adult children of alcoholics, and none of them seem anywhere near as damaged as Nolte in the film (although if any of them want to say anything about this portrayal, I'd love to hear about it). He plays a man on the edge, who can neither give nor receive love, despite the best efforts of the women in his life (his daughter and his girlfriend, Sissy Spacek). Coburn plays a man who crawled into a bottle years ago and never came out.
The portrayals are both stunning and bleak, set against the wintry background of northern New Hampshire (but shot in Canada). Given the metaphoric use movies make of snow, it is a wonder everyone north of the snow line doesn't commit suicide.
I guess I am wandering around this review because I am not quite sure what to make of the film. No question both the performances are Oscar-worthy. But the film's anemic box office probably stems from the fact that it isn't quite entertaining and isn't quite moving. It is a character study, and while I am tickled to see an American director and an American studio (albeit a tiny one, Lion's Gate) make a character study, I'm not sure they quite have the knack. Things happen, which isn't always true in a character study, but many of them don't seem to add up. I'll spare you the plot; it's a red herring fest anyway.
See this film if you're interested in watching some first-class filmmaking and acting in the service of an odd little story.
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