BEST FILMS OF 1997 - List in Progress
by Mike Lorefice

Henry Fool
Hal Hartley

***1/2

Full Movie Review

Love and Death on Long Island
Richard Kwietniowski

John Hurt gives a tremendous performance as an aging scholarly writer who never got over the decline of Victorian England culture. Snobbishly opposed to everything dubbed as 20th century progress, he's seemingly the last person that would become fixated upon a shallow no talent teen idol (Jason Priestly parodying his previous work) who has a supporting role in such classics as "Hotpants College II". Hurt's every word, expression, and movement are earnest and intellectual, allowing his character to delicately balance between absurdity and credibility, to move the audience even though they want to laugh him off. Two things separate the film from the pack. Though much of the fun comes from showing us their limitations, the representative of high and low culture as well as the teen idol's girlfriend (Fiona Leowi, who is also quite good) are all treated with dignity. Also, though Hurt is in every scene, we never quite know what he is thinking. We know he isn't quite telling the truth to get to meet Priestly, but we can't really tell if he's serious, obsessed, gay, playing a cruel joke, or some combination. The film is clever and witty in making fun of dud culture in general and moronic movies in particular, and does a good job of criticizing the justifications fans and critics make to elevate the work even the favorites they are defending know is bad and should be beneath them. Unfortunately, it's attitude is somewhat defeatist; ten years after its release I still have no problem being repulsed by the dreck the far stuffier Hurt character can't resist, and thankfully I'm not the only one. [11/23/06] ***