Feb'16 Movie of the Month: Affliction (1997)

Title: Affliction
Year of Release: 1997
Written and Directed by: Paul Schrader
Starring: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Willem Dafoe, and Sissy Spacek
Recommended if you're a fan of: Taxi Driver (1976), Fargo (1996), A Simple Plan (1998)

I have nominated this movie because I honestly think it's one of the most criminally under-watched movies of the past 30 or so years. Affliction is a top-notch thriller that I found very watchable yet deeply unsettling.

I don't want to give anything away, but there has seldom been a character I had felt more sympathy for than Wade Whitehouse. Nolte gives such an excellent performance and definitely deserved his AA nomination. I also wanted to nominate it since it's one of my James Coburn's last great performances and his only Academy Award winning one. This movie is driven by both of their performances and they did such a fantastic job. I'm hoping that this will get them recognized a bit more!

The setting of this film takes place in northern New Hampshire, where it is very cold and miserable, something I found fitting for February. Ironically enough, it's 60 degrees where I'm at right now, but it won't be that way for long!

Anyways, I hope you guys will give this one a chance and share your thoughts. Enjoy!

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I watched this right after it came out with my wife, and we didn't give it the proper chance. I've been wanting to see it again ever since. Looking forward to it!

Interesting choice False Writer, I've never heard of Affliction, so I'm glad you choose it.
It sounds good too, so I'll give it a watch

Awesome, I'm looking forward to both of your reviews!

I've never heard of Affliction, and I'm not a fan of either Taxi Driver (1976) or Fargo (1996) so I'm not sure what to think about this movie, but I like all four of the people who star in it, so I'll give it a chance.

Glad to hear it gb! Like I said its very performance-driven so if you're a fan of the actors there's a good chance you'll like the movie.

Looks good F Dubbya. Love Nolte.

Awesome, hope you enjoy it!

Looking forward to this one.

Glad to hear it Suspect! Can't wait to see what you all think of it!

Podcast planned! Probably recording a little over a week from now.

Awesome Yoda!!! Man I'm so hyped right now!

Not on Netflix as far as I can tell, but free on Amazon Prime.

Edit: Actually I suppose just posting this link is more useful than what I said:

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/affliction

I just finished watching Affliction, and it's a very good movie, but it's very slow-paced, and kind of dark. It's not as much about the mystery as I thought it would be when I read the description. It's more about the people, and more specifically, about Nick Nolte's character.

The acting was terrific, but while I like James Coburn, and I'm glad that he won an Oscar for this movie. I really felt like Nick Nolte deserved it more for his performance. It was one of the best of his career, if not the best.

I felt that most of the narration was unnecessary, with the exception of the final narration, which is as close to a conclusion as we get with this movie. In fact, I think the opening narration is even detrimental to the movie because it contains spoilers about the ending that would have been better left unsaid.

If you're looking for an action movie, or even a good mystery, this isn't the movie for you, but if you're looking for a movie that's all about the characters, with a good story, great acting, and some beautiful filmmaking, give this movie a try.

Awesome review gb; super stoked that you liked it! Thanks for checking it out!

And I do agree with you on the opening narration. Although at the same time it did make more interested in what would happen as the movie went on.

I'm looking forward to it, hopefully this week.

A lot of people don't like voice over narration but I tend to like it. Still waiting for my library to get the DVD in, hopefully not long.

I don't usually mind narration, and sometimes I like it, but I just felt that it wasn't necessary in this movie. It wasn't distracting, or anything like that. It just wasn't needed.


BTW, today is Nick Nolte's 75th birthday, so everyone should celebrate by watching Affliction today.

Seriously one of my favorite films. Nick Nolte's performance is one of those next-level, earthquaking, forces of nature pieces of acting that you just never forget. It's a chilling film, but so rewarding. The final 45 minutes or so had me stunned. But the entire film is damn-near flawless. Probably Schrader's best, if not my favorite.

I also love Dafoe's unreliable narrator. And the soundtrack is so underrated.

4 out of 4 for me.

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Recent Viewings (rewatches noted with an *)
Barbarian- (4/5)
Nope- (4.5/5)
Jurassic Park Dominion- 0.5/5
What Josiah Saw- (4.5/5)

I was looking forward to this and watched it last night. I had seen it around 1998 before my movie taste veered away from mostly action and comedy. I could hardly remember it except that I didn't get anything out of it, and I always wanted to see it again.

It's a pretty interesting movie because the general plot, while fairly interesting, is rather inconsequential to the true meat of the story. I never had any idea where Nolte's character was going, and the end result surprised me a little bit. While the acting is the whole key to the movie, I think it's important to note that the perfect actors were cast for the available roles. They embodied the characters in every way. There are many parts of the movie that feel as if not much is happening, yet I was glued to the screen for every moment. There's a very natural human intensity with every scene. Nothing happened that truly blew me away, but the drama is consistent and strong. Not quite a favorite, but I thought it was excellent.