 Love and Death on Long Island (1997) John Hurt plays Giles De'Ath, a technophobic old-school British writer who reaches a slightly-past-midlife crisis after becoming obsessed with a relatively unknown American teen idol, Ronnie Bostock (played with an insanely great sense of irony and self-deprecation by Jason Priestley). After a difficult radio interview causes the writer to reconsider some of his more habitual dislikes, De'Ath decides to venture to the cinema to catch E.M. Forster's Eternal Moment—mistakenly walking in on the Porky's-esque Hotpants College II. Giles watches for a few moments (during which the viewer is treated to a few hilarious choice segments that are easily the best parodies of the teen sex genre film I've ever seen), and is moved to shout "This isn't E.M. Forster!" but just before he is able to leave, he is captivated by the beauteous vision of Priestley as Ronnie Bostock, playing a pizza parlor waiter in Hotpants College II. Proving that a simple moment can come to define the course of one's life thereafter, Giles becomes utterly transfixed by Bostock, and is soon buying teen magazines to create a scrapbook of "Bostockiana." De'Ath sees something far deeper in Bostock's work than anyone else (including Bostock) does—that depth that one sees when one is unable to see beyond the glorification one has bestowed upon something that brings unexpected fulfillment to one (yikes, now I'm sounding like a technophobic old-school British writer). His infatuation leads him to actually buy a VCR and television, and to secure a video rental membership in order to rent the likes of Tex Mex, Skid Marks, and of course, Hotpants College. The idea of this obsessive hobby bringing fulfillment to an essentially dead man was also explored in Adam Mars-Jones' memorable novel The Waters of Thirst, in which a dying man explores a fandom revolving around an anonymous gay porn magazine model. I haven't read the Gilbert Adair novel on which this movie is based, but I wouldn't be surprised if Love and Death on Long Island owes a bit of its debt of influence to the Mars-Jones book. The scenes portraying De'Ath's increasing obsession are nothing short of hilarious, and the humor is played out very realistically—even the movie parodies are not at all forced, as in In & Out and other films that can't resist the easy way out. A scene in which Giles fantasizes about appearing on an intellectual British quiz show, answering questions about "the life and work of Ronnie Bostock" (but the questions are of course the typical teen-mag fare of "What is his favorite pig-out food?" etc), is one of the most satisfying things I've seen in awhile. I laughed out loud more times during this movie than virtually any part of 1998 that I can remember (not counting those four blackout months in detox). Eventually, Giles' obsession takes him to Long Island and ultimately into the home of Ronnie Bostock and his wife (or girlfriend, I'm not sure it's stated outright)—welcomed as a distinguished British author interested in writing a script to elevate Ronnie's profile to the appropriate level of talent. Ronnie, of course, wants to believe this man (who also tells him that Ronnie is hugely famous in England), but himself doubts whether his talent lives up to the Shakespearean level Giles relates it to. We see Giles go from being a sad and lonely man to a sad and desperate one, then bloom into a happy and optimistic one, ultimately moving toward a necessarily pathetic letdown. Hurt plays Giles with all the right notes, conveying the various aspects (sad, closeted, clueless, determined, and eventually passionate) absolutely convincingly, and giving easily his best comedic performance ever. Priestley is very good in a rather limited role as Ronnie Bostock, which is a deliberately one-note role until Giles begins to open his mind—later in the film, Priestley is quite good with the frustration and emotional division that Bostock goes through. The supporting cast is mainly static characters—rural townspeople that have a good element of quirkiness, but this is not played off for forced laughs or weird awkwardness (i.e. In & Out or Twin Peaks, respectively). Everything about the film is well done, and it works impressively with some deep ideas about celebrity, personal potentialization, and self-reflexivity (in which the film itself becomes a comment on the film and its audience). I loved this film for a lot of reasons, from the performances to the dialogue and movie parodies, and to what the film itself is—a gay-themed film with absolutely no agenda, and a movie of great substance that is able to pull itself off with wonderful, honest humor. And sure there are moments of suspension of disbelief—i.e. what movie theater is going to be showing E.M. Forster's Eternal Moment and Hotpants College II at the same time—and during the afternoon no less—and who could possibly confuse the two for more than two seconds—but these very small contrivances steam the plot forward and redirect it into very unpredictable places. A great film, and my only misgiving is that now I can't go out and rent the Hotpants College trilogy.
Review by Uma Thermometer |