I'm not surprised Nolte and Coburn got acting nominations -- they gnawed on the scenery so shamelessly it's a wonder anything was left standing. And that's pretty much the modus operandi of Affliction: Never employ subtlety when you can whack the audience with a 2x4 instead. The dialogue tells -- in flat, unnuanced statements -- what the film ought to be showing us. Willem Dafoe's narration sounds like he's reading from the book (which he probably was). Even so, his recitation is more evocative than the images we're shown, which is a powerful argument for reading the novel instead of watching the movie (and you also would be spared the little girl's whining).
There are gleanings of a good movie in here, bits and pieces that spark and shine out of the dross. It's too bad they couldn't add up to something. A more artistic hand might have really brought out the intricacies of the relationships in the movie; instead, they're overshadowed by a silly subplot involving a shooting. This turns out to be crucial to the denouement, and it actually makes sense once you know how the film ends, but as you're watching the movie, it's a distraction. (On the other hand, the guy next to me seemed to be floored with emotion at the end, so I suspect it might be a guy thing, or more precisely a guy-who-has-troubled-relations-with-his-father thing, like Shine.)
One weird coincidence: Nolte's character is named Wade Whitehouse, and he hires a lawyer in a wheelchair. So Whitehouse's lawyer is in a wheelchair, just like White House lawyer Charles Ruff... Yes, thank you, I'm fully aware I have too much time on my hands.
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