Review of My Own Private Idaho (1991) by Ricardo O — 28 Jan 2011

My Own Private Idaho is about two young male hustlers who work street corners to pick up clients for sex. Mike (River Phoenix) is a gay street hustler in Seattle who experiences narcoleptic episodes from time to time where he dreams his mother is comforting him and replays home movies of his childhood. He is picked up by a wealthy older woman who takes him to her mansion where he meets two of his fellow hustlers hired by the woman. One of them is Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), Mikeâ(TM)s best friend and the son of the mayor of Portland. Preparing to have sex with the woman, Mike has another one of his narcoleptic fits and awakens the next day with Scott in Portland, Oregon. Mike and Scott reunite with Bob Pigeon (William Richert), a middle-aged man and mentor to the gang of street kids and hustlers that all live in an abandoned apartment building. Scott admits to Bob that when he turns 21 in a week, he will inherit his fatherâ(TM)s fortune and retire from this life. Mike longs to find his mother, so he and Scott leave Portland for Idaho to visit Mikeâ(TM)s older brother Richard (James Russo). Richard tries telling him who his real father is, but Mike says that it he know it is Richard. Richard tells Mike that their mother works as a hotel maid but when Mike and Scott visit the hotel, they find that she has left to Italy in search of her own family. Mike and Scott then travel to Italy where they find a country farmhouse where Mikeâ(TM)s mother had worked at but has since left. She had worked as a maid and had tutored the young woman living there, Carmella (Chiara Caselli), and she informs them that she has returned to the United States months ago. Carmella and Scott fall in love and return back to the U.S., leaving Mike to return home on his own. Back in Portland, Scott inherits his fortune and is met by Bob and his gang in a fashionable restaurant, but he rejects them. Later that night Bob has a fatal heart attack and the next day the hustlers hold a funeral for Bob, while in the same cemetery, Scott attends the funeral for his recently deceased father. The film ends with Mike back on a deserted stretch of highway in Idaho. He has another narcoleptic episode and falls on to the ground and two strangers pull up in a truck, steal Mikeâ(TM)s belongings and drive away. A few moments later, Scott pulls up in a car, picks Mike up, puts him in the passenger seat and drives off.

Van Sant had written a script called Modern Days originally consisting of two separate stories: the first was about a street kid named Mike, who was based on a real life person Van Sant had met in Portland; the second was an update on Shakspeareâ(TM)s Henry IV plays, which would be about another kid named Scott, also based on a real life person who was also the friend of Mike. He then had the idea to blend the two stories after watching Orson Wellesâ(TM) Chimes At Midnight. At the same time Van Sant was working on a short story called My Own Private Idaho about two Latino characters on the streets of Portland that go searching for their parents and travel to a town in Spain. One of them falls in love and leaves the other behind. Van Sant also had another unfinished script called The Boys Of Storytown, which had the Mike and Scott characters and Mike had Narcolepsy. Van Sant then combined elements from the scripts for Modern Days and Storytown with the Idaho short story to what would finally end up being the final product.

Where as Gus Van Santâ(TM)s second feature focused on a group of young people struggling with drug addictions, his third film My Own Private Idaho, focuses on a group of young people and their sexuality. Itâ(TM)s a historically important film that came to define the work of its director and the whole New Queer Cinema of the â~90s. Although it isnâ(TM)t a straight adaptation of it, the Scott story is an updated version of Shakespeareâ(TM)s Henry IV plays with Scott being a version of the Prince Hal character and Bob being a version of Falstaff.

There are moments in the film that are beautiful to watch ranging the âloveâ? scenes where Mike, Scott, and Hans are having sex or where Scott and Carmella are having sex where the actors are completely still but with editing to different positions giving the film a form of poetry to the excellent cinematography in general. Then thereâ(TM)s the acting that is terrific throughout. Although Keanu Reeves isnâ(TM)t a greatly talented actor, his soliloquies and delivery are still pretty good. But the main reason to watch is for River Phoenixâ(TM)s performance, his greatest of his short career. His expression of pathos in the scenes such as when he and Scott are sitting by the campfire and he expresses his love for him or when they are in his brotherâ(TM)s trailer is exquisite.

My Own Private Idaho is a stylistic tale of two male hustlers done only the way that could be done by filmmaker Gus Van Sant, and he does it not only with style but also with heart. It is evident that the film is a very personal one and this may very well be his best film. Highly recommended viewing. 10/10.