LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: A prominent British author becomes
infatuated with young American heartthrob actor.
He travels to Long Island to find the actor. John
Hurt gives a good performance, but the film is too
leaden to work as a comedy and but is not serious
enough to work as good drama. Rating: 5 (0 to 10),
low +1 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 14 positive, 1 negative, 2 mixed
Thomas Mann's short intense psychological novel DEATH IN VENICE is unlikely material for a contemporary comedy-drama. And while nothing in the credits or publicity acknowledges the connection, that would seem that that is the basis for this updated story taking place in London and Long Island.
Giles De'Ath (played by John Hurt) is one of the great living English authors, his ivory tower insulating him from anything modern, just the way he likes it. An unlikely series of events puts him in a movie theater showing a cinematic trifle called HOT PANTS COLLEGE II. Giles is about to turn away from the film in disgust when he notices Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley). Bostock is an attractive young actor who simply put infatuates Giles.
Now Giles has a reason to get interested in the technology of the 20th Century. He wants to see all of Bostock's films. Like a fish out of water he wades in to try to understand the intricacies of renting films and of understanding the home video revolution. He wants to see every film ever made by Bostock. And an unpromising assortment it is. But Giles is unsatisfied by worshipping from afar. Instead De'Ath takes a holiday and hops a plane for the United States to find the actor and then to insinuate himself into Bostock's life. First he has to find where Bostock lives. Then he approaches first Bostock's live- in girlfriend, Audrey (Fiona Loewi). And finally he will move in on Bostock himself. None of this is easy for the man in both an unfamiliar place and time. Audrey is impressed by the stature of this famous writer so fascinated by her boyfriend, but she little guesses the trouble it can cause.
The major attraction of the film is John Hurt's performance, which manages to combine sinister and pitiable aspects. He is a stalker bedeviled by his ignorance of the modern world. The film is an uneasy mix of the resulting comic situations with the tragedy of the Thomas Mann novel. It is not clear how much comic potential this story could have had, but Richard Kwietniowski's screenplay and direction seem leaden. The humor is just a bit off somehow. Jason Priestley plays a callow but empty actor whose questionable career echoes his Priestley's own. Fiona Loewi has a little more depth to her part, but it clearly is Hurt's film for whatever he can salvage from it.
The film is shot by Oliver Curtis who manages to give three distinct visual styles to the film, one for London, one for Long Island, and a third one for the excerpts we see of Bostock's crude filmography.
What we have is a bleak and downbeat comedy that never really gets off the ground. I rate it a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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