Affliction

Crap.

1997

Director: Paul Schrader

Starring: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek

God no, talk about a buzzkill.

THE SETUP:

Some crap about a son coming to terms with the violent legacy of his father, blah, blah, blah.

DISCUSSION:

Just because a movie is “indie” and isn't "Hollywood" does not in itself mean that it's good. Based on the evidence of this and The Sweet Hereafter I feel pretty sure that Russell Banks' books, while they may make for acceptable fiction, are not suited for the screen.

The performances are good, particularly Coburn. It's so nice to see Sissy Spacek in ANYTHING that I enjoyed that, and Nolte was fine, but his performance in The Thin Red Line was much more intense and said much more (to me) about male pride and violence that this entire movie did.

First of all, are we really all shocked to learn that violent and abusive parents beget violent and abusive children? Is that news? Is there anything else this movie has to say? I left the theater feeling that the performances and direction were fine, it's just that what this film had to say just wasn't very interesting. I can see why actors wanted to be in it, since there are so few characters these days, but why make this movie? What does it really have to offer anyone? And why see it?

This is actually one of the movies that was most instrumental in my decision to sharply reduce the amount of movies I see in the theaters, and to stop seeing all these crappy “acclaimed indie” movies of the week. Paul Schrader, if you ever read this, please know that your film put at least me not just off that film, but off of watching movies forever! You know, if you can reach just one person...

SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?

I say no, but I suspect that if you're on this site at all, this is not your kind of film.