Love and Death on Long Island (1997) John Hurt, Jason Priestley, Fiona Loewi, Shelia Hancock, Maury Chaykin. Directed by Richard Kwietniowski. 93 minutes. Rated PG-13, 4 stars (out of 5 stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com/film/ Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott
"Love and Death on Long Island" is being described as a comedy, which isn't the right term. The film has many funny moments, to be sure, but the dramatic themes are far more dominate than the humor. "Love and Death" focuses on obsession, compulsion, deception and shame as it presents a dark, absolutely riveting character study of a very lost man.
John Hurt, in the performance of a lifetime, plays Giles De'Ath, a stuffy British writer who seems to come from another era. The painfully reserved widower leads a quiet life, far removed from modern technology and pop culture. Early in the film, an interviewer asks him "Does the 20th century play any part in your life?" and the answer is clearly No.
That is, until the day Giles locks himself out of his house and takes refuge from the rain at a neighborhood cinema. Instead of seeing an adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel, he goes into the wrong theater and finds himself watching a "Porky's" style adolescent sex romp called "Hotpants College II." Staring in disbelief at the puerile onscreen antics, Giles snorts in disgust and prepares to leave in a huff, until he catches a glimpse at the vision of actor Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley. ) Watching the defeated Bostock lying on the counter of a soda shop, covered in ketchup by the bad guys, Giles is thunderstruck by the beauty of the young man and the pose, which to his eyes resembles Henry Wallis' romantic Pre-Raphaelite painting "The Death of Chatterton."
Desperately smitten, the author finds himself obsessed with all things Bostock. He shoplifts teen magazines featuring Ronnie, too embarrassed to purchase the gushy fan rags aimed at young girls. Determined to see the actor's other works, he is forced into the modern age, buying a VCR (the installer has to explain that Giles will also need a television set to use the device) and suffering the smirks of video clerks when he sheepishly asks for Ronnie's other two films, "Tex Mex" and "Skidmarks." Back at his stately home, Giles locks himself away from his housekeeper, clipping photos and articles on the actor and lovingly pasting them into a scrapbook, carefully hand-labeled "Bostockiana."
Giles' obsession becomes all-consuming, leading him to travel across the ocean to the actor's hometown on Long Island. Over the course of weeks, he methodically tracks down Ronnie's girlfriend Audrey (Fiona Loewi) and befriends the bright young model, in hopes of building a relationship with the actor on his next home visit.
The film, based on a novel by British film critic Gilbert Adair, does a remarkable job of placing us in the mind of Giles De'Ath. Thanks to a fine script and Hurt's dead-on performance, it's easy to understand the exhilaration Giles feels as he is reborn through his one-sided romance. We share the embarrassment and shame as the closeted writer attempts to hide his orientation from others.
The film presents a harrowing portrait of obsession, as Giles' world becomes increasingly focused on Ronnie, to the point where it obscures all else, including his integrity. Giles doesn't even attempt to justify the stalking and all the lies; they are simply tools in his quest. When his house of cards eventually comes crashing down and his comprehension finally returns, all he can do is gasp "What have I done?"
Hurt's phenomenally detailed acting is complimented by Jason Priestley's earnest performance as Ronnie. Thankfully, Priestley doesn't play Ronnie as being dumb. Instead, Bostock comes across as well-intentioned, kind- hearted and most of all, unfinished. It's possible that Ronnie may well become as important an actor as Giles claims he already is, but we can't tell for sure because Ronnie is a work in progress. The same is probably true of Priestley himself.
Fiona Loewi is impressive as Audrey, giving the character welcome nuance and intelligence. It would have been so easy for her to play Audrey as a stereotypical vapid model. Instead, she is the most perceptive character in the story. One of the film's most striking sequences comes when, in a moment of shivering realization, she casts away Giles' web of deceit, turns to him and says, in the starkest of tones, "God, you're good."
All of this is not to discount the film's humor. "Love and Death on Long Island" is often a very funny movie, but there is so much more going on here that advertising the film simply as a comedy is not only inaccurate, it does a disservice to the depth of the story. Enjoy the laughs, but don't overlook one of the most compelling, and often disturbing, character studies to come along in quite a while.
Copyright 1998, Ed Johnson-Ott
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews