I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW Review

Jeff Turner and Kelly McKormick are, very likely the largest fans that former pop teen queen Tiffany has ever had.  Jeff is such a big fan that he was once the subject of a three year long restraining order to keep him away from her.  Kelly?  Well, Kelly first encountered the singer in a vision while comatose in hospital and became convinced that life could only be truly complete if lived with her.  Jeff has spent roughly twenty thousand dollars to build a ‘radionics’ machine to link his mind to Tiffany’s.  Kelly has converted an entire home into a virtual shrine to the singer, pasting photographs of Tiffany over every available surface alongside pictures of scantily clad couples making out with the participants labelled ‘Tiffany’ and ‘Me’.  Clearly worshiping at the altar of Tiffany is a full time job for these two.

Now here’s the thing:  with the rise of stalking as a phenomenon over the past decade or so you would expect one of two things from a film following two real life people utterly consumed by an obsessive need to be close to a faded singer.  Either it would cast them as rather creepily disturbed people, a potential danger to the object of their desire - as Tiffany clearly felt Jeff was at one point - or it would put its subjects up as objects of mockery, inviting the audience to point and laugh.  I Think We’re Alone Now does neither.  Oh, sure, you’ll laugh from time to time out of sheer amazement and confusion, the world these two live in is just so far removed from ‘regular’ day to day reality that such a response can’t be helped.  But mostly I Think We’re Alone Now is a horribly tragic story of isolation and loneliness.

Jeff?  Jeff has Ausberger’s Syndrome, a high functioning variant of autism that leaves its sufferers socially isolated and prone to obsessive behavior.  Kelly?  Kelly was born intersexed - a literal hermaphrodite - and has lived on the outskirts of society for his/her entire life.  Both are isolated in the extreme, both are desperate for some sort of acceptance and both - for some obscure reason or another - have settled on Tiffany as the idealized solution to all of their problems.  For his part Jeff is convinced that Tiffany is already his closest friend, in love with him, and simply being playful when she keeps him at a distance.  Kelly realizes Tiffany has no clue who he/she is and likely has no interest in knowing, but also believes that they are destined to be together thanks to a literal vision had while in a coma following a serious cycling accident.

The greatest strength of I Think We’re Alone Now is its willingness to simply observe Jeff and Kelly with a minimum of commentary.  The film doesn’t try to explain, it simply puts you in a position to watch and experience the world as it’s subjects do.  This approach puts a very human face on what could have been a laughable subject and the results are truly tragic and heart wrenching.  On a pure experience level I Think We’re Alone Now is brilliant, powerful stuff.  But the laissez faire attitude also hurts the films on some points.  It does little to put these two damaged people into context and many obvious questions go unasked.  Would a better understanding of the two subjects somehow lessen the audience’s ability to sympathize and share their experiences?  The film makers seem to think so but I disagree.  The overly casual approach also leads to a pair of moments that edge up on some questionable ethical lines, the film makers facilitating a pair of encounters between the two subjects.  Word from the director was that the meetings were at the request of the two but that point is entirely absent from the film itself and, as presented, it feels uncomfortably as though these two very damaged people were being put in a room together simply to see what would happen.

Surprising, troubling and strangely touching, I Think We’re Alone Now makes for truly compelling viewing that really leaves you wishing the best for these two. Kelly?  Kelly has since found a girlfriend in real life.  Jeff has transferred his affections to Alyssa Milano.

Related Links

• Check out Rodney's review here
• Check the official site