Praise

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 1998)

Best creative structure to a film. One of the best film reflections on the American Dream and the nature of memory and regret. The opium scene ending, in combination with the hypnotic soundtrack, provides more lasting emotional impact and psychological reflection than any other ending in film save Godfather II, which the film resembles.
Plus James Woods is an acting deity in it. Now if only Elizabeth McGovern knew how to act.
Watch only the director's cut.