Stalker in Love: OFS Presents Off-Kilter Comedy

Writer Falls For Teen Hearthrob In Tonight's Film

Stuffy Seeks Showy: Jason Priestly and John Hurt star in Love and Death on Long Island, playing this weekend in Kettering. (photo courtesy www.salon.com)

A celebrity stalker makes for an unlikely comedic hero, but Love and Death on Long Island, directed by Richard Kwietniowski, succeeds not only in making us root for the obsessed fan but in telling a deeply felt story of the irrational nature of love.

Giles De'Ath, played by veteran actor John Hurt, is an established writer living in London who has isolated himself from the world and thus missed many of the advances of the late 20th century. When he uncharacteristically grants a radio interview to the BBC, he confounds the interviewer by not even knowing what a word processor is. "I am a writer. I write words. I don't process them," says a bemused Giles.

He is surprised to learn from the interviewer that movies are being adapted from novels these days. Locked out of his apartment, he decides to seek shelter from the rain in a movie theater, intending to see an adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel. He stumbles accidentally into a T&A teen flick called Hotpants College II, not realizing until he has sat through half of the movie that, "This isn't Forster!" He is about to leave when one of the actors on the screen, Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestly) catches his eye and he is immediately and irrevocably smitten.

Giles' fascination with teen heartthrob Ronnie soon becomes a full blown obsession which he shamefully tries to hide. He smuggles teenybopper magazines past his overprotective housekeeper and makes a scrapbook of Ronnie's publicity photos, which he names "Bostockania." He goes back to see the movie a second time (one of the best parts of the film is hearing Giles embarrassedly utter the words "Hotpants College II" over and over in his stuffy British accent.)

He even goes so far as to purchase a VCR to watch the other movies Bostock has been in, Tex Mex and Skid Marks (which gets its title from the line, "You're like the skid marks on the underpants of life!"), although the stupefied deliveryman has to explain to Giles' surprise that he needs to buy a TV in order to watch the videos.

Giles even dreams about Ronnie at night, fantasizing that he's a participant on a game show that asks questions specifically about Bostock's life. When Giles begins to expound on the art of movie acting during lectures to the literary establishment, his concerned agent prods him to take a vacation. His passion growing, Giles hops a plane to Long Island in search of Ronnie, and the innocent at home becomes an innocent abroad. After languishing in a highway-side, by-the-hour motel for days enduring hilarious encounters with the Long Island natives, Giles contrives to literally bump into Bostock's fiancee Audrey (Fiona Loewi) and turns on the charm in order to meet the object of his affection.

The premise of Love and Death is an uncomfortable one, but Hurt's endearing performance as a man of letters faced with an inexplicable obsession saves the film from mere creepiness. For all the comedic possibilities Giles' confusion presents, Hurt takes Giles' love for Ronnie completely seriously. His performance is distinguished and extremely moving, and Giles' final declaration of love is easily understandable in its sincerity. Priestly also delivers a richer performance than you might expect, lampooning his Beverly Hills 90210 persona as a vapid teen idol with aspirations to greatness.

Love and Death sends a powerful message about the uncontrollable nature of love, crossing the boundaries of age and gender. Giles finds greatness in a place he never thought to look, Hotpants College II, cautioning that sometimes you are swept away by beauty in the most unlikely of places.

The Oberlin Film Series is showing Love and Death on Long Island tonight at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. in Kettering 111.