A+ for Nolte and Coburn's performances. B- for plot with unnecessary mystery. A for overall message of a man not being able to escape generational trauma.

Starts out slow but worth watching all the way through.A great lesson that abuse to a child is very hard on them even up until they leave this earth.

As much as I loved this movie (I added it to my ten best list of 1998), my appreciation is tinged with a bit of regret because it was so close to being a true modern masterpiece. Nolte is phenomenal, and this battles with THE PRINCE OF TIDES as his finest onscreen performance. Had the film concentrated solely on him and his relationships with Spacek and Oscar winner Coburn, both fantastic as well, this would have been a near perfect film. Unfortunately, a murder mystery which takes up a good chunk of the film isn't nearly as compelling. And the character of Nolte's brother, played by Willem Dafoe, distractingly narrates the film; his character is onscreen for fleeting moments and we have no connection to him. All that being said, what's good in this movie is SO good, especially the three main actors and an always welcome performance by the criminally underrated Mary Beth Hurt, it deserves to be seen. These are characters I won't forget, and the inevitable conclusion is a heartbreaker.

A deeply sad movie that understands the ways that violence and anger spread through families and communities. Probably Nolte's best performance and Coburn really was the only guy who could have played the father.

Depressing throughout; it has an important message, but can you get through the slow, grinding plot? Nolte is excellent, but his character is impossible to root for and hard to even sympathise with, despite the reasons for his flaws being laid out carefully. Coburn is chilling, playing the root of all evil.

Adapted from Russell Banks' stellar novel, Affliction is the relentlessly grim story of a man struggling with personal demons that he doesn't fully understand, or perhaps chooses not to understand. The victim of abuse from his violent and alcoholic father (James Coburn), Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) finds himself battling with his own alcoholism, a condition that has caused his own family to collapse, perpetuating the cycle of violence, abuse and addiction. While the movie at times seems to have trouble figuring out if it's a character study, a murder mystery, or a family drama, it is propelled by powerhouse performances from both Coburn and Nolte. Absolutely devoid of anything even closely resembling humor or anything else remotely uplifting, it is an intriguing film about one man's inevitable downfall.

A bucket list movie. A must see for everyone. The characters are absolutely credible. The script is very realistic .

Not exactly "fun!" but the themes and performances are necessary additions to the library of film

It really hasn't aged well. I didn't like the voiceover narration. Nolte's performance, whilst strong, is pretty much at one speed, and lacks any real support from the rest of the cast. The direction seems scattershot, as the movie feels like it's being pulled in a number of different directions all at once. Maybe a characterisation of how things have changed?

Nick Nolte is excellent in a career best performance taking on the role of a truly tortured individual whose descent begins as the pressure being felt from many different angles slowly builds up inside of him. James Coburn also did an amazing job in his extremely unlikable role with Sissy Spacek and Willem Dafoe providing solid work as well. Schrader amplified the tone here providing an extremely well matched texture to this tragic story, aided through his use of 35mm which gave many of the shots a much more pleasantly natural feel to me.

Disturbing and chilling tragic film about multigenerational alcoholism has some flaws in it's story structure and is quite contained in it's rural town setting but will surely wrench your gut several times.

uninteresting story, but extremely well acted.

I dont get it; how did this movie get such high ratings? Dafoe, Spacek, Coburn, Nolte and they come out with a boring, draw and drawn out yawner. Watched an hour and shut it off

Nolte was great and I was glad to see James Coburn again . I Had not seen him in a long time

Paul Schrader cements his filmmaking with this film and creates one of the best films of 1997. I have owned this film for quite some time and regrettably never gambled the opportunity to watch it. Nolte and Coburn are incredible to watch and this slow burning film is tough to watch. This is indie cinema at its greatest and I'm shocked this didn't connect with the circuit it was designed for. Relentlessly dark and harrowing, this is one trip in darkness you don't want to miss. I miss these films and I'm happy to push this onto anyone who is interested in seeing forgotten gems. 25/07/2019

Quite excellent; phenomenal turns from Coburn and Nolte, not to mention excellent direction by Paul Schrader.

A underrated drama that has great performances with a story feeling sad and sober. Truly Nolte's best and James Coburn being a douche.

Notle is one of our most under appreciated actors these days due to some of his personal life issues that has overtaken his image as one of our finest actors and here is a perfect example. He is excellent in this (FAR and beyond superior than that year's Oscar winner Roberto Belingi from Life is Beautiful) and showcased a really strong year for him as an actor with this and The Thin Red Line, one of his best performances. Sissy Spacek is good but not used to her full abilities in this and James Colburn was great but his Oscar win was a bit of a far reach. Great screenplay, cinematography, direction, and score as well

I kind of love this admittedly flawed film. What do I think is flawed? Largely the narrative, which is far from bad, but at times makes a bit less sense than it should. More than once it really feels like a book compressed into the length of a feature film, and you can sense that bits of the plot are missing. Along similar lines, while Dafoe's narration is occasionally on point, it often feels like it was dropped in because the screenwriter couldn't figure out any other way to introduce some idea from the book that felt crucial. So, why do I love it? Because the central performances in this film are incredible and they all serve what I think is Schrader's biggest interest in making the film ... focusing on the legacy of violence. Coburn towers over this film afraid of nothing and nobody. Nolte embodies a small boy reacting to perceived injustices with no control over his anger. Dafoe is withdrawn, but supports Nolte beyond the bounds of reason due to a bond forged in their traumatic childhood. I could watch these three perform these parts with no story at all.

I think in hindsight I liked this better than when I was watching it. But I was intrigued. Verrrrry slow burn. And suddenly when Buscemi appears it's a different movie, with him narrating out of nowhere, and then it switches back again when he leaves (with no narration). So weird! But great acting, and that's the reason to watch.