I Think We're Alone Now

Remember Tiffany? The teen pop sensation from the 80s? No, me neither. I do remember her song "I think we're alone now", one of two hit singles she recorded in her fleeting moment of fame, but then I could as easily be remembering the original 60s version. Some though have never forgotten her. In I Think We're Alone Now, 25-year old Sean Donnelly's first feature, and my last film in this year's MIFF, we meet two people who have remained not just her fans, but her obsessive devotees.

Jeff, a 50 year old Californian man, has been so enthusiastic in his fandom he's been served with a restraining order for stalking the singer. Kelly, a Denver hermaphrodite who lives as a woman, is also deeply fixated, pasting the walls of her apartment with Tiffany's photo. Kelly dreams of one day being in a romantic relationship with Tiffany, Jeff believes he already is. This isn't the only thing Jeff is deluded about, he also believes in Satanic conspiracies and time travel and has spent thousands of dollars on equipment supposed to aid telepathy. Kelly comes across more as a lonely outsider who has locked onto the idea of Tiffany as some kind of saviour figure.

The film is shot in digital video, and seems to revel in its lowbrow feel. Credits are handwritten on note paper, as are titles, which are displayed by putting the paper into frame with the camera on autofocus. It's a little tacky, but suits the subject matter well enough. The oddball characters, as you might expect, provide endless material. At times it's hard to know what's sadder - their lonely obsessions, Tiffany's post stardom career or the fact that the audience were so prepared to laugh at what were clearly a couple of very disturbed people. Herein lies the big question that hangs over the film, which is a question of ethics. It's hard to avoid a certain amount of discomfort with a film based entirely around two people's mental problems.

Tough decision for a film maker. They are two undeniably interesting characters. The film offers a frank insight into obsession, which is valuable. Does that make it right to go ahead and paste their obsessions on the big screen? For the most part Donnelly handles it fairly well but there were still moments I was uncomfortable with. When the two go to Vegas for a Tiffany concert, for instance, despite having never met each other previously they inexplicably end up sharing a hotel room, in a sequence that smacks of having been set up expressly for the film. If so, then the film has started crossing the line from documentary toward reality TV.

Too much of the film rests on the character's twin obsessions, without exploring much beyond them. Sometimes there are other questions begging to be asked that go unaddressed. For instance, Jeff's telepathy gear and time travel books, on which he claims to have spent thousands of dollars over the years. Who does he buy this stuff from? Who's out there turning a profit from preying on the delusional? But no, that question is left as a passing oddity, and Jeff goes on trying to contact Tiffany on his mind device while the strangely incurious audience chuckle away at the crazy person.

I'm glad I saw the film, because delusion is fundamentally interesting, although I came out with a cynicism towards my fellow humans I haven't felt for a long time. Without talking to Donnelly himself I don't know what reaction he wanted from his audience. I hope he was aiming for more than laughter.