Affliction
Picture:
C- Sound: C- Extras: D Film: B
The
controversial maverick filmmaker Paul Schrader is still at war with bad
filmmaking, as shown in his recent battle to finish the Exorcist prequel that was started by the late, great John Frankenheimer
before his untimely death. After
finishing the film, producers at Warner Bros. actually fired him and replaced
him with hack filmmaker Renny Harlin to shoot more violence and gore. This was from a director who had just handed
that very studio Driven (2001), one
of their biggest bombs in many, many years.
A recent
bomb is obviously more memorable than the success of 1998. That was the year Schrader saw a critical
comeback with Affliction, an
effectively dreary tale of generations of alcoholism in a very dysfunctional
family, and how it destroys them. The
breaking point occurs when disillusioned Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte in a
remarkable performance) has had little in his life to be happy about. A woman he loves (Sissy Spacek) changes that,
but he is not ready to peacefully settle into a new life because he is haunted
by the old one.
Ultimately,
he must face his very drunk, hateful, abusive, terroristic, and screwed-up
father (a powerful James Coburn). That
is, unfortunately, only the big top of a large mountain of ugliness and
emptiness that has to be overcome.
Whether this is possible and to what extent is the other issue, but
writer/director Schrader (from Russell Banks’ book) paints an unrelenting,
bleak, but necessary reality that for many is too unbearable to sit
through. However, if you make it
through, it is actually rewarding. It
may be familiar territory on the surface, but few films have dealt with the
subject matter so frankly. It is not an
easy film, but it is a good one.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks like the same exact transfer that
Universal DVD issued when the film first came out on DVD. Though the colors are intentionally dull,
this transfer does not offer all the fidelity and depth cinematographer Paul
Sarossy, C.S.C., intended. The natural
locations, even in winter, just have too much detail. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo offers some
surrounds, but dialogue is sometimes a problem.
Schrader is used to doing low-budget films, but one has to wonder if
this is due to the actual recording, or (more likely) the Dolby
compression. Otherwise, the presentation
is adequate, and there are no extras.
It should
be noted that the film also stars Willem Dafoe and Mary Beth Hurt, who add
further weight and substance to the film.
While we wait to see how badly butchered that Exorcist film is, Schrader is certain to find another interesting
project. His recent Auto Focus (2002) was mope impressive than it got credit for. Despite a debate about Schrader putting his
money on “the good family” that is not of the Spielberg variety, Affliction is worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
