Review of My Own Private Idaho (1991) by Edith N — 30 May 2012

Keanu the First, Parts I & II.

The frustrating part of the whole thing is the wasted potential it implies. Not the wasted potential of the film itself, which is the best "narcoleptic as a fool in a production of the [i]Henry[/i] plays about street hustlers in the Pacific Northwest" movie I can imagine. In fact, it's far better than I would imagine based on that summary, which is one of the reasons I'll give a more involved summary in a minute. But the point is, the end of the film is the most depressingly prophetic moment in River Phoenix's career, more so than if they'd left the original ending of "The Body" in [i]Stand by Me[/i]. What's more, it is a movie wherein Keanu Reeves actually shows true acting talent, the only one of those that I've ever seen. I know it's popular to jump all over his stardom, and it's true that I'll agree that "He Played Ted" is what that man's epitaph will be, but this is the only glimmer of something better that I've ever seen, and its existence saddens me.

River Phoenix is Mike Waters, and Keanu Reeves is Scott Favor. They are street hustlers, prostitutes. They first meet up when Alena (Grace Zabriskie) hires three prostitutes to have sex with her--sequentially, because it takes a long time and a lot of work to satisfy her. When Mike comes in to take his turn, it triggers something and he has a narcoleptic episode. Scott has known Mike for some time, and he and the other hustler, Gary (Rodney Harvey), get him out of the house. Scott and Mike team up, and they flit between Seattle, Portland, and Boise. Their backgrounds are very different; Mike is basically trailer trash, and Scott is the son of the mayor of Portland (Tom Troupe). They connect with the movie's Falstaff, Bob Pigeon (William Richert). Mike goes on a quest to find his mother. Scott goes along with him, caring for him through his episodes and participating in all sorts of minor and petty crimes.

It's not exactly surprising to see what happens to Scott if you know your Shakespeare. Which, of course, I do. I know that Scott will not die a hustler's death but that Bob will. Oh, I wonder if that magazine cover we see will catch up with him, because that really is the sort of thing which can destroy a political career. I wonder how much he has explained to Carmela (Chiara Caselli). The confrontation with Bob is in public, because that's how Shakespeare wrote it, but there are very few places where a man with that past would be able to put it behind him. That's one of the handful of places where Shakespeare is not universal; Prince Hal was able to put his past behind him because it was a monarchy, and there was simply nothing short of civil war which would prevent it. However, while Scott may inherit family property and not have to worry about money, he can no longer expect a political career no matter what he did as a boy just because his father is the mayor of Portland. Arguably, his actions would go a long way toward destroying his father's career!

Despite the fact that the main characters are having a lot of gay sex, I don't think either of them is necessarily gay. If you are a male prostitute, the only way you're going to make a living is by having sex with men. Women just don't hire enough prostitutes. (It's discussed in this week's [i]Savage Love[/i], even!) And, yes, Mike is shown as having fallen in love with Scott. However, I'm still not sure that really means he's gay. I'm not even sure he really feel in love with him per se. Doubtless he loves him, but that's not necessarily the same thing. I think Mike has spent a lot of time alone, and I think there is something very powerful about a man trying to protect you. Scott looks after Mike, and no one has really done that before. His mother has run off to Italy; his father (James Russo) denies paternity. The only person Mike has left is Scott, and it's no wonder that he's so hurt when Scott leaves him, too.

And then, there is that ending. River Phoenix almost exactly two years after this movie went into wide release in the US, taking his great acting potential with him. He was twenty-three and already had his first Oscar nomination, losing to Kevin Kline. We don't know if Mike has a happy ending or not, really; we don't know anything about the person who picks him up or what they want with him. But in a way, that only serves to reference more Shakespeare--Phoenix went to the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns. The imagery isn't exactly the Viper Room, here; the side of the happy-face road in Idaho is different from the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles. And of course I know that any seeming prophecy is coincidence. I think everyone concerned would be a lot happier if I weren't calling up memories of the days after Halloween, my sophomore year in high school. But I suppose that's the sort of fate Mike would have ended up facing no matter what fate befell River Phoenix.