`LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND' A TOUCHING ODDITY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

``Love and Death on Long Island'' is as surprisingly touching as it is outlandishly odd. A satiric reworking of Thomas Mann's ``Death in Venice'' for the teen idol age, the film is rich with small, telling observations about the difficulty obsessive passion poses in a time when just about everything is too puerile to be worth getting passionate over.

It's also a culture clash comedy packed with witty, tricky reversals. In this one, the effete, calculating European, not the naive, trusting American, is the victim of a game fraught with emotional risk. That the scheme is the Englishman's own absurd invention is beside the point; the gent just can't help himself, and therein lies his unusual, if often hilarious, poignance.

And, of course, the very idea of a highbrow British literary sensibility ever encountering the kind of sub-pop perspective that generates videos called ``Hotpants College II'' is so inconceivable, just suggesting it is enough to inspire constant giggles.

John Hurt is the stuffy Giles De'Ath, a recently widowed writer of intellectual fiction. He lives a hermetic existence in his London rooms, which such vulgar devices as televisions never have sullied. On one of his rare outside excursions, he's caught in a downpour, and takes refuge in a multiplex. Wandering into the wrong theater, he's surprised to find a stupid teen sex comedy instead of the expected E.M. Forster adaptation.

But just as the disgusted Giles is about to leave, he's even more surprised to be smitten by the sight of the trashy film's fifth lead, Ronnie Bostock (``90210's'' Jason Priestley). Giles soon finds himself compulsively buying Tiger Beat and purchasing a VCR, the better to absorb every detail of the handsome young actor's existence. Of course, he's amazed to discover he'll have to get a television monitor in order to see the videos.

Increasingly single-minded, Giles visits the Long Island community where Ronnie lives. Wandering the leafy, suburban environment, he finally locates Bostock's home. Ronnie's working in California, but Giles manages to strike up a friendship with the actor's girlfriend Audrey (Fiona Loewi). When Ronnie returns, Giles pretends to be the unsophisticated youth's artistic admirer while preparing for the right moment to confess his true ardor.

Expert at playing the bent but refined Englishman, Hurt doesn't really stretch here, but he wears Giles' insular dreaminess like a Saville Row-tailored suit. Priestley once again proves himself more than just a prime-time soap star (check out the little-seen video gem ``Coldblooded''), good-naturedly joshing his lightweight image while revealing Ronnie's deep, if barely comprehended, creative aspirations.

Working from his adaptation of Gilbert Adair's novel, director Richard Kwietniowski manages to maintain sympathy for the film's three protagonists while making great sport of their emotional or intellectual blind spots. ``Love and Death on Long Island'' eases amusingly, if a bit too slowly, toward its inevitable embarrassing resolution. Like most obsessions, Giles' is of profound interest only to him; after a while, we feel we've seen enough.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Love and Death on Long Island'' (PG-13; language, nudity).

The stars: John Hurt, Jason Priestley, Fiona Loewi.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Richard Kwietniowski, based on Gilbert Adair's novel. Produced by Steve Clark-Hall and Christopher Zimmer. Released by Cinepix Films.

Running time: One hour, 33 minutes.

Playing: Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Monica, Santa Monica.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: John Hurt, left, and Jason Priestley in ``Love and Death on Long Island.''