‘Love and Deatl ling
By Barb Churchill
Film Critic
“Love and Death on Long Island”
is a very unusual film. It’s a cross
between a man in mid-life crisis and a
tribute to the wonders of pop culture.
The problem with this film lies in the
mingling between the two concepts.
Giles De’Ath, played by John
Hurt, is a writer of serious literature.
He hates technology, women and most
people. De’Ath’s life has been the
same ever since his wife’s death; he
writes at the same time every day, lis
tens to his old-fashioned crystal radio
every evening, and meals and bed
times remain doggedly on schedule.
De’Ath lives in isolation, and is so
out-of-touch that he thinks his crystal
radio is the latest in technology.
But there is trouble in paradise.
De’Ath is bored, and wants to shake
things up. He wanders down to the
local theater to watch a movie adapta
tion of an EM. Forster’s novel. “Love
and Death” being a comedy, obvious
ly De’Ath doesn’t see any Forster
film; instead, De’Ath sees “Hotpants
College 2.”
It had been 20 years since he’d last
seen any movie at all, and De’Ath is
taken bythe acting of teenage heart
throb Ronnie Bostock, played by
Jason Priestley.
To feed his newfound crush,
De’Ath goes hog-wild for all sorts of
new technology. He buys a VCR, not
knowing he also needs a television set
to view movies. He buys the TV, a new
answering machine, tells his house
keeper to keep a less regimented
schedule and decides to travel.
De’Ath’s destination: Long Island,
home of Ronnie Bostock.
When he reaches Long Island, die
previously-sedentary De’Ath
becomes an active sleuth. He figures
out where Bostock lives, even though
his address and phone number are of
course unlisted, and manages to meet
Bostock’s live-in girlfriend Audrey,
played by Fiona Loewi. Audrey
becomes taken with De’Ath, and
introduces him to Bostock. She later
lives to regret that, because Audrey
discovers what De’Ath doesn’t know
himself. De’Ath has fallen in love
with Bostock.
Hurt does an excellent job as
De’Ath, a man who changes from an
old codger who hates the modern
world and everything in it to a man
who’s enchanted by the new opportu
nities in film, literature and technolo
gy the future has brought to life.
Priestley is fine as Bostock, an actor
who’s well aware he’s made it solely
on his looks, and is desperate to prove
he can actually act. The role of
Audrey, Bostock’s girlfriend, could
easily have been a throwaway part in
the hands of anyone other than Fiona
Loewi. She makes the best of a mar
ginal part by being supportive, cre
ative, kind and wise.
Kwietniowski’s direction is good,
giving life not only to “Love and
Death” but also the fictional
“Hotpants College 2.” Kwietniowski
obviously enjoys films of all types,
including the sophomoric genre films
such as “Porky’s,” “National
Lampoon’s” and “Animal House”
that “Hotpants College 2” represents.
The problem with “Love and
Death” is in the final 20 minutes.
Before then, the film is excellent in its
depiction of a man in search of the
new, the novel and the unexplained.
To De’Ath, everything in the modem
world is a novelty, as he has shunned it
for many, many years. This naive
belief in technology is refreshing.
However, the movie strains credi
bility when De’Ath becomes enam
ored with Bostock. De’Ath is an
English intellectual who’s also been
widowed for quite some time. It is
The Facts
Film: “Love and Death on Long
Island”
Stars: John Hurt, Jason
Priestley, Fiona Loewi
Director: Richard Kwietniowski
Rated: PG
Grade: B
Five Words: Pretentious writer
discovers technology, films
inconceivable that De’Ath wouldn’t
realize what his sexual orientation
was, or that he actually was in love
with Bostock, until he blurts it out.
“Love and Death in Long Island”
is, overall, a good film that provokes
thought and inspires the viewer to a
new lease on life.
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