My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

So we are introduced to and follow a group of hustlers living on the very buttom of society. We zoom in on Mike (River Phoenix) and Scott (Keanou Reeves) each with their sad story that slowly unfolds.Mike is really tragic and sad. His mental state seemed to be infantile and instead of dealing with diverse inner conflicts in a manner that could have some sort of therapeutic effect he escapes into one narcoleptic seizure after another. It was as if he needed to start life all over again by returning to the very time of birth and here being nurtured as supposed.Hollow as a result, responsibility that follows an adult life was by any standard not possible. The relationships that could be established was superficial and more driven by common destiny with the others in the group than by an explicit choice. With one exception. Scott. Their friendship though still rested on the premise that Scott needed to stay in a position as the grown up who could be in charge.Otherwise Mike only had short moments of joy when luxury in a hotelroom etc. could be enjoyed as a prelude to the exchange of sex for money. Luckily the director had chosen not to depict these scenes - it would have very unpleasant, maybe even as watching a peadophile scene, and without a real purpose. It was easy enough to imagine.Scott is finally able to break his social heritage and with that the friendship with Mike. This is depicted in the most beautiful ending scene where both Mike and Scott attends a funeral at the same church yard at the same time and the estrangement between the two is shown with great effect.The acting in itself makes the movie worth watching. One thing is the undeniable talent of both River Phoenix and Keanou Reeves but the directing seemed to provoke different modes of acting.At certain times it seemed as if the acting had an almost theatrical quality to it. It consisted of monologes that seemed to be spoken out to an audience all the while the actor walked around, like on a theater scene.At another time it seemed as we were watching an interview with two hustlers telling about their first experience selling sex.And then we had the two scenes, surreal in their quality, where sex and a strong and odd narcissistic tendency blended together which gave the feeling that this was a way of dealing with a topic in a more humerous way that didn´t correspond with the more general narrative. They existed in their own right. And right they had! The target audience to this movie is hard to define. You must find out yourself...Regards Simon

Gus Van Sant tends to make very strange, surreal yet extremely realistic movies like Elephant, Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For, Gerry and so on. Elephant has it's own flaws, but I think it's the magnum opus of these realistic stories of surrealism, but this is definitely a contender. This is probably one of the more surreal of the films, as it ventures into magical realism, dreams, drug trips, etc. Heartthrobs, River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves lead the show as Mike and Scott. Scott Favor comes from a wealthy upbringing, but decides to sleep on rooftops, streets and have sex for money. He doesn't need to, he wants to. On the other side of things is Mike, a narcoleptic, homeless bastard. These two have an unexpected friendship as they try and search for Mike's mother, steal from a man named Bob, drive through America on a moped. The film is filled with paintings of shots. It's an odyssey. Most filmmakers are unable to achieve such development of character in 4 hours, but this movie does it under two.10/10Gus Van Sant is a genius and is wasting his time with projects like The Sea of Trees, Promised Land etc.

It seems that this film is really two films in one, struggling with another. There is the quiet, brooding masterpiece which has at its core River Phoenix and his search for home and comfort. And then there are the lesser parts of the sum, loosely inspired by Shakespeare, that seem to want to complicate the plot and insert these moments of literary richness. The scenes with William Richert's Falstaff inspired figure take on a strange morphing of the speech, not completely copying the language of the Bard but applying a modern twist on it. What results is a strangely stilted dialogue that doesn't have the poetic and symbolic power of the original, yet is decidedly stiff and uncharacteristic for the manner of street bums. It takes powerful moments from the play, such as Hal's rejection of his mentor and father figure, and renders them stale and emotionless. The real power is in that funeral scene, where the group sing and dance of the late Bob while a cold, frozen Reeves looks on from his own removed domain, no longer a part of them. It's a stunning juxtaposition, and you can feel the regret two ways as they attempt to miss each other's glance. This is more acceptable than the other theatrical moments of the film, such as wildly flamboyant client who has Mike scrub his floors, and a salesman who puts on a wonderful show and dance in the midst of their wanderings. These feel less natural and more of an obligation on the part of Van Sant, as if he was the Bard himself, trying to please a royal patron. So, not as to dismiss these segments of Shakespearean influence, but the real meat of the story is with Mike. He has an odd condition called narcolepsy which has him collapse and sleep at odd times of the day - and this isn't just a technique to feign vulnerability, but embedded within his character entirely. His dreams are the most integral clues to unlocking his psychosis; there is a long straight road that seems to go on forever and onto nowhere, and he peers all around to no avail, and retreats to his late mother's lap instead. Van Sant overlays these dream sequences with red-blooded American country music that sings about their proud land and country and all the wonderful things it holds. It becomes tragically ironic, but also with a slight solace, because they abruptly cut out once he wakes up and he is back in reality, and somehow in the midst of a client's session. It is suggested that he is almost trying to hide away in his dreams and reject his real life - see the strange way in which Van Sant's blocking hides the identity of the client as he walks away after he is done with his 'business'. And of course there are those gorgeous time-lapse sequences where the clouds rush over the never-ending plains. Their fleeting, elusive beauty renders Scott and Carmela's lovemaking almost robotic in its static still-frames.River Phoenix is the real star. Not only in his shattered, clipped dialogue, but in his body language. The pivotal confession of love by the campfire is made doubly vulnerable and heartbreaking by the way in which he hesitatingly spits out each pained line, and then curls up into a ball as if he were naked and completely exposed. Later upon rejection, he will desperately collapse on hard pavement and succumb to his condition all while sobbing - he makes this an art, not just releasing tears but allowing his whole body to break down and shake uncontrollably all while a unsuspecting Scott passes by in his car. He seeks solace in his usual clients, and for a brief, tiny moment, he seems to find it...oh, before they begin to pull his clothes off and reveal their truer desires. The initial intention was to have simply blackouts cuts to indicate Mike's narcolepsy. Instead we have these moments of pure bliss, that speed by all too fast and slip out of his hands. Clayont's editing is erratic and visualises his condition; they will jump forward in time in the blink of an eye, and cut during action jarringly, as if to indicate another narcoleptic episode that robs Mike of whatever pain or pleasure he was experiencing. In one instance, he runs desperately into his mother's former home, as if expecting an embrace, and the footage switches to that grainy, nostalgic POV vision, shaky and nervous, betraying his innermost desires, and then it quickly speeds past the memory jolt, and then back to him sobbing into Scott's arms. This is a masterful bit of film-making; to elicit such a strong emotional reaction but to do it in such a way that robs the character of any moment of solace. And we understand. Van Sant himself is openly gay, but there is not even a hint of personal circumstances or experiences that drive this film forward, but a feeling of universal loneliness. There is a secondary tragedy that this film evokes; that the young River Phoenix, such a tremendous talent, was taken much too soon.

My Own Private Idaho Director: Gus Van Sant Starring: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo. Gus Van Sant essentially takes on Shakespeare's Henry IV; it featured the aesthetically delightful River Phoenix as Mike Waters, a wonderfully apt narcoleptic male whore who we first get a glimpse of tipping down an open stretch of road in Idaho. Mike and the action shifts from the cold Seattle to equally cold Portland. It is here that he makes friends with Scott Favor, a secretly soon to be rich guy who is also on the game played by the often-maligned Keanu Reeves. The future for both is as uncertain as uncertain can be, will Scott take up the inheritance he about to get, will Mike survive the streets with his narcolepsy?  Mike feels real affections for Scott, however Scott refuses to believe men can really love each and it would seem that Scott is only doing the gay whole whore thing to kill time and get back at his family. Mike believes Scott will continue with the grand life on the streets, turning tricks even after he bags the inheritance; such is the allure of the unknown. There are many of fellow working boys who agree with Mike's view. This is an uneasy picture, a colourful and surreal attempt to really take the characters to a different kingdom. At times, it is a wonderful although slightly glossy take on the real street hustlers shagging their way to oblivion or not as the individual case may be. Drug abuse and risky behaviours are commonplace on the streets and in the world of the male hooker and it is a small feature of this sometimes-disturbing film. The character of Mike seems almost apologetically plausible, abandoned as a child and obsessed with finding his real long lost mother. Scott less believable as the rebellious disillusioned spoilt little rich kid gone rebelliously bad. You really would not have put them together by design, but fate disregards those lines and together they embark on a quest to find Mike's mother, from Portland to Idaho to Italy they do travel. There is no argument the cinematic quality and the unbelievably stunning settings help to make this film an intriguingly striking viewing delight. It is exceptionally well thought out in terms of location and setting and a master-class for any would be cinematographer. The characterisation I found to be impressive, even Keanu Reeves played his part with just the right amount of smug pathos and humour, especially with the flippantly arrogant lines afford to him. River Phoenix works pure magic on screen with this performance and I am fairly sure I'm not alone in believing this is the role that set him into the great immortal movie star hall of fame. It is no wonder that he pulled in a number of 'best actor' type awards for this intrinsically faceted role. His campfire scene, in which Mike declares his love for Scott, is much applauded by audiences and critics alike – Newsweek claiming it to be "A marvel of delicacy" it really is a testament to what a wonderful talent River Phoenix was, because he wrote that part of the script himself. Village Voice said, "Phoenix vanishes with reckless triumph into his role". It earned around £5 million at the box office worldwide, which is quite impressive, more than that in video and DVD sales. My Own Private Idaho takes the spirit and passion of Shakespeare, bends, manipulates and shapes it to find form in a more modern setting, which works beyond expectation in the most part. Although the traditionalist in me seems to hold the opinion that you should not mess with old Shaky and if you do, you best be prepared to face the harshest of critics. Adaptations are always open to personal interpretation and modifications, which others may not agree with, like or even accept, yet this one seems to work and seems to be commended as a job well done.Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO