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Two time Academy Award nominee John Hurt (Midnight Express and The Elephant Man) and two time Golden Globe nominee Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills, 90210) have finally joined forces to make a film. Given their powerful fan base and undeniable charisma, it was certainly bound to happen sooner or later.
Hurt plays Giles De'Ath (insert joke here), an uptight London recluse who only communicates with a few snooty friends and his housekeeper. One day, De'Ath locks himself out of his apartment during a thunderstorm and, while waiting for a spare key to arrive, notices a billboard for the latest film adaptation of a E.M. Forester novel. To keep dry, he goes to the local multiplex, but accidentally stumbles in to the theater showing Hot Pants College 2. Instead of being turned off by the disgusting American filth, De'Ath finds himself strangely and inexplicably transfixed to actor Ronnie Bostock (Priestley).
Unable to erase Bostock's image from his mind, De'Ath starts to collect teenybopper magazines featuring his image. He carefully clips the photos and puts them into a scrapbook titled `Bostockiana'. De'Ath also buys tapes of Bostock's previous work, but has no TV or VCR to watch them. In a particularly funny scene, he takes a trip to the local mega-appliance store and inadvertently mistakes a microwave for a television before a bewildered employee.
The next `logical' step in his obsession is to travel to the sleepy Long Island town where Bostock lives. He befriends Bostock's live-in lover (Fiona Loewi), who is impressed by De'Ath's remarkable knowledge of her boyfriend's relatively unimpressive career. The two finally meet in a strange mismatch of age and culture. Talk about an unconventional story!
Writer/Director Richard Kwietniowski has certainly crafted an unusual feature film debut. He has given Hurt, who is probably best known for having the Alien burst from his chest, his best role in years. I was going to say his strangest role in years, but then I remembered the wealthy freak he played in Contact, which wasn't too long ago at all. The perpetually sideburned Priestley, on the other hand, may or may not be acting as the idiot American hunk. His part must have been written for him or some dolt just like him.
Love and Death garnered Kwietniowski a Golden Camera nominee (for direction) at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and also won praise at the Chicago International Film Festival. It will probably find a larger audience (and onto more screens) in Canada, where Priestley calls home. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the commercial during 90210.
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