Love and Death on Long Island (1998)

Fantastic!

Brilliant and touching

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Having ventured by accident into a cinema showing a puerile teen comedy, a stuffy and "slightly" behind-the-times London writer, Giles De'Ath (John Hurt), who is entering the latter part of his life, becomes infatuated with a youthful male film actor, a guy named Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley). Smitten, Giles discovers everything he can about the handsome young man, including the fact that he lives in the Hamptons, on Long Island. Giles then travels to Long Island, hoping to meet Ronnie.This film is very much a character study of Giles, a man who lives a lonely, solitary life, cloistered in his London residence, with only a housekeeper. In Giles' own words: "For many years I had absolutely no public life". But he's articulate, knowledgeable, and old-world educated. He's also intellectually curious, and very resourceful.The infatuation, which becomes an obsession, I can understand. That he embarks on such an improbable journey, and the outcome of that journey, seems a tad far-fetched. Still, it makes a reasonably interesting, though very slow-paced, story. The first half contains some humor, as Giles, wanting to see more films that Ronnie is in, learns the difference between a VCR and a microwave oven.John Hurt's performance is adroit enough to keep the viewer's interest in Giles, assuming that one is predisposed to the attitudes of an unexcitable, older man. Jason Priestley plays himself, more or less. The film's tone is introspective and slightly melancholy. Background music is nondescript. Color cinematography is conventional, but competent.Similar in theme to "Death In Venice", absent the magnificent visuals and music of the 1971 classic, "Love And Death On Long Island" will appeal to viewers to the extent that they find Giles and his quest for lost love engaging.

London. Giles D'Eath is a smart, serious writer living alone in his apartment. He is over 50, his wife died and he thinks he knows everything about himself. But one day he accidentally sees a stupid teen-comedy in cinema. Just as he is about to leave the theater he spots one actor in that film, Ronnie Bostock, and is somehow unexplainable fascinated by him. Suddenly he gets new energy in his life. He gets curious and starts learning all about the young Ronnie, who is not admired by critics and is forced to shot weak films. Giles is somehow sad that his new hero is stuck in trash while he is admired as an artist. As his emotions get stronger towards Ronnie, he decides to fly to the USA to meet him in his home in Long Island. He does, and a strange friendship unveils… ----------------- In 1997 „Titanic" won all the awards, including Golden Globes and Oscars. But that movie spectacle is easily overshadowed by a simple little film, the shining tragicomedy „Love and death on Long Island". I've seen „Love" about 5 times and each time I admire it more and more. It's a beautiful and subtle gay film that has emotions, humor, quirky characters and the brilliant John Hurt, who should have won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for this. One IMDb user lamented about the story, stating that it's as unrealistic as if „a writer like Joseph Heller would fall in love with Britney Spears and do everything to try to meet her". I didn't find that unrealistic. I thought that was precisely the point, showing how love doesn't have boundaries, neither in gender or culture or social status ( here the famous writer Giles doesn't look down on the trash reputation his idol Ronnie is forced to carry ). The story also questions the harsh boundaries between trash and art ( in one sequence Giles compares one scene of Ronnie lying on a table of a pizzeria in the film „Hotpants College 2" with the famous painting „The death of Chatteron". Art is subjective ) and is full of amusing moments ( i.e. Giles' farewell letter to Ronnie, send by a fax machine, is so long that his whole room is soon filled with paper! ).I liked „Brokeback Mountain" ( 7/10 ), but I thought it was too simple while this just simply overshadows it - it would be more rightful if those two films would change reputations. Every now and then a movie shows up that dares to amusingly break all social conventions and rules of life and you have a feeling that your life would be emptier without it – this is one of them.Grade: 9/10

Love and Death On Long Island follows Giles (John Hurt) a semi recluse English novelist who wonders through his life with very little intense purpose, challenges or any sense of being 'alive'. That all changes when one day when he gets locked out of his house. Eventually he ends up wandering to the local cinema and mistakenly walks into Hotpants College II. "What rubbish". He's just about to leave when Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestly) appears on screen. He's mesmerized.When he leaves the theater he's a different man. It's not long before Giles thinks and does nothing that doesn't revolve around Ronnie Bostock. He buys teeny bopper magazines featuring anything involving Ronnie. Makes a Ronnie Bostock scrapbook from hand including the pictures from the magazines and eventually he makes sure to view all of Ronnie's other movie exploits. He's a man consumed by one thought, one action. Obsession has taken over. Things get deeper as you can imagine when Giles sets out and actually meets Ronnie and befriends him.John Hurt turns in another great performance in a long list of great performances and it's nice to see Jason Priestly doing something of worth. The supporting players are apt too. Sheila Hancock as Giles housekeeper kept reminding me of the God and Monsters Lynn Redgrave as James Whale's housekeeper. Fiona Loewi as Ronnie's girlfriend is a mite refreshing. She's not stupid or naive. We can see at one point she's figured out what is going on and what the "real" story is. I guess it's a nice plus that some of the movie was shot in my home too -- Nova Scotia, Canada. I think it's always nice to see where you live in a movie. 'Hey, I know that place! That's Lawrencetown beach!' Now I suppose if you live in Los Angeles, New York or any big American city that supports motion picture filming that seeing your city/town isn't such a big deal. In any case Love and Death on Long Island is a movie bathed in human nature. It's a good watch on a rainy day.

When I read the reviews of this movie on its release I was eager to see it. It sounded quirky & interesting, not the usual predictable product of a Hollywood factory. Unfortunately, this shallow film is more TV sitcom than anything else, with talking cars, supermarket shopping-basket confrontations, a goofy landlady & a bunch of phony pseudo-Cheers diner patrons. Nothing rings true on either an emotional or satirical level. I'm surprised it didn't show up as a Fox series. In particular I found John Hurt's performance disappointingly indifferent. See Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters in a similar role & similar setup to appreciate what some dimensional acting might have wrought on this limp effort.