Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 10-April-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Love and Death on Long Island (1998)

When "Love and Death on Long Island" came out seven years ago it impressed me as both surprising and recognizable, both hilarious and sad, like the episodes in life you find hard to forget. What I remembered most about the movie was its wonderful first half, which introduces an ivory tower-bound British don named Giles De'Ath (John Hurt) and describes the revelation that overtook him late in life. Once a noted author but now a marginal fogey, Giles enjoys the repose of the obsolete academic and complacent widower in absolute ignorance of modernity. But one day, by chance, he wanders into a theater looking for an adaptation of E. M. Forster and ends up at a flick called "Hot Pants College II," from which he never recovers. For there, on the screen in all its technicolor glory, is American dreamboat Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley), who presents him with an unprecedented, unlooked-for, and undreamed-of vision of perfection. From that moment on Giles abandons his books for gossip rags and his tea time for grade B videos, lost in a world where beauty is truth and truth is Ronnie Bostock.

Most people have probably had a celebrity crush at some point, and "Love and Death on Long Island" fully captures the funny, exhilarating idiocy of this experience. The effect is heightened by the polarity of the parties involved, the über-stuffy European intellectual on the one hand and the über-cheesy American actor on the other. The dynamic makes for a tantalizing setup, but I realized on second viewing that it's difficult to resolve satisfactorily. After researching Ronnie's personal life, Giles heads to Long Island and miraculously manages to make the acquaintance of his idol's girlfriend (Fiona Loewi, either a bad actress or adept at playing the standard-issue model accessory of all Hollywood pretty boys). This leads to the big moment itself, when he comes face-to-face with Ronnie and begins to apply his wits, will, and previously untapped charm toward securing him forever.

The second half loses steam by relying on doubtful scenes as it moves toward a rather vague ending. Clearly Giles and Ronnie cannot live happily ever after, but what, ultimately, is the meaning of their connection? The film suggests an interesting contrast between different phases of Western culture, one in which manhood is defined by a mastery of the written word and a classical education (including, perhaps, the homosexual mentor-student relationship popular in ancient Greece), and one in which it's defined by a fratboy mentality (such as seen in "Hot Pants College II") and a Hollywood career with all the trappings. The script also implies that Ronnie takes Giles' traditional knowledge, leaving him to utter obsolescence, and uses it to advance in his shallow modern role. The ending therefore leans toward social commentary, which is a bit of a letdown compared with the beguiling intimacy of the opening. Still, taken altogether, "Love and Death on Long Island" accomplishes what few movies do: it places a remarkable central character in a unique situation that invites the viewer to laugh at, feel sorry for, and ruminate upon the frailty and foolishness of mankind.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.