Affliction (1998)

There's always something more affecting about a story set above a wintery snowline, and though this drama in itself is not really anything special, the effort from Nick Nolte is. "Wade" is the local sheriff who is held in disdain by just about everyone from his disparaging ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) to his brute of a father (James Coburn). Then he hears of a fatal hunting accident and decides to investigate. Finally with some purpose, he begins to suspect that this wasn't just a simple slip on the ice incident, but that there are more nefarious plans afoot that could affect everyone living in this small community. As his self-imposed pressure mounts, we realise that he is only just on the right side of sane and is really struggling to keep it that way. Initially his investigations are derided but that just seems to galvanise him further, and drive him nearer to the edge. Might he be right about the conspiracy? Well that's not so important as the really potent effort from Nolte as a man dealing with a backstory from hell, a family who are at best indifferent to his plight, and an increasingly toxic professional reality that gradually sees him reduced to nothing - an angry and despairing nothing. It's all about obsession, and about the dangers to the mind and body when that is unfettered. Coburn features menacingly, if sparingly, and Sissy Spacek also works well as the concerned but wary "Margie". It has something of the sins of the father about it, and sees this actor give what is, for me anyway, his career best performance. It's at times quite a depressing and bleak film, but no worse for that.

**_Oddball drama about a troubled sheriff in snowy northern New Hampshire_**

Shot in the winter of 1997, this is a psychological drama with some mystery, suspense and thrills, similar to "A Simple Plan," which was shot the next winter. While that film deals with corruption via the temptation of easy wealth, this one involves the corruption of sons (Nick Nolte and Willem Dafoe) by the sins of the father (James Coburn). Both movies are worth seeing, but "A Simple Plan" is all-around more coherent and effective.

This is more ambiguous, respecting the intelligence of the viewer to put the pieces together. It's a study of a likable man's downward spiral with constant hints as to what led to it, not to mention his misguided attempt to redeem himself. Like "The Spitfire Grill" from a year or two earlier, the events take place in a small New England town, and you get to know the denizens as they're fleshed out, including the girlfriend played by Sissy Spacek. The difference is the wintry milieu and the lack of any sense of salvation.

I've heard people describe it as dark, haunting and even scary (the dad), but there's also a glaring element of amusement with these people being parodied by director Paul Schrader. Take the Christian relatives (speaking as a believer) and the various fights. I busted out laughing several times.

It runs 1h 53m and was shot in several spots south, west or east of Montreal in Quebec.

GRADE: B