Giles De'Ath (John Hurt) is a reclusive, widowed writer in London who lives totally outside of the 20th century. By the way, his last name is pronounced "day-oath" and he hasn't heard those jokes since high school which was a very, very long time ago.

Being a writer, Giles sees no need for a word processor or many of the other 20th century inventions including a TV!

One day he gets locked out of his house and opts to see an E.M. Forrester adaptation at a local cinema to pass the time.

He mistakenly goes into the wrong theater and, as he is about to leave the purile American film "Hot Pants College II", he notices a young actor, Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley), and is struck by the beauty and romantic vulnerability of the actor.

From there, we go on a journey with Giles as his obsession with the mediocre young actor goes from slight interest to a schoolgirl like obsession.

He then investigates everything about the movie and Ronnie, his object of perfection, begins collecting fan mag photos and watching his other film "classics".

In order to view the video tapes of all of Ronnie Bostock's movies, Giles needs to purchase a VCR. It takes him a while to figure out that he also needs a TV to view the tapes. Luckily he didn't put the video tapes in a micro-wave oven. He came very close.

After that he travels to Chesterton, Long Island, where Ronnie lives. There he stalks the actor. Stalking appears to be hard work resulting in blisters but Giles finally gets a chance to set up an 'impromptu' meeting with Ronnie's girlfriend, Audrey (Fiona Loewi), in the grocery store.

He insinuates himself into their lives. Giles wants to write a screenplay about a deaf mute who was raised in front of a television set and he wants to cast Ronnie in the lead role!

This would be an art film. It is a quest for love. Aud soon becomes the 'odd' man out...so to speak.

The two; the literature-quoting Giles and the handsome but inarticulate Ronnie make an unlikely pair. His miraculous encounter with the lad in some ways pushes the reserved Brit's emotional threshold over the top.

Funny, endearing, wise and invigorating, this tale of an older man’s fixation on a younger man is nominally based on the Thomas Mann novella and the Luchino Visconti screen adaptation Death in Venice.

But while there are obvious references, Love and Death on Long Island offers a much more personal and life-affirming approach to the lure of beauty and perfection.

Much better than Death in Venice. The story is more believable and certainly better casting.

Jason Priestley portaits a character so believable it is almost impossible to think it is just acting.

Taxi Driver: The sign says "no smoking".
Giles De'Ath: No, the sign says "thank you for not smoking." As I am smoking, I don't expect to be thanked.

Giles De'Ath: [to his colleague Henry] If one has to have a theme, Henry, it would be about the discovery of beauty where no one ever thought of looking for it.

Giles De'Ath: [Reading a newspaper review] "Hotpants College II" is a puerile romp without a single redeeming feature.

Giles De'Ath: It is difficult to know where to begin since, unlike you, I already know the ending.

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