Review of My Own Private Idaho (1991) by Justin J — 01 Feb 2008

In Gus Van Sant's third full length approach to American film, he takes a shot at a project he had been planning years before Drugstore Cowboy (1989), and with the success of that film, he was able to get his wish in making the film that he had wanted to make from the get go.

Van Sant combines a story that had been seen and would be seen again in popular or cult north American cinema, that of the street hustler. The classic example is that of Joe Buck (Midnight Cowboy) and the more recent is that of Neil McCormick (Mysterious Skin). The concept of street hustling is somewhere between those to extremes with Van Sant's intention on "Idaho". While Joe Buck, in the late 1960s, was trying to turn tricks for the ladies, and the latter of Mysterious Skin was plainly for the Men. Gus touches on the hard straight issue of a sensitive young street boy who happens to be gay and also happens to be a hustler.

Mike Waters (River Phoenix) makes himself one of the perennial figures in independent film of the 90s with his character performance. As Mike Waters falls in love and declares said love for his best friend Scott Favour (Keanu Reeves), Mike clearly learns that there is no home for him and no private place for him to go.

Scott and Mike go on a wild goose chase for Mike's Mother, whom he hadn't seen since he was an infant. This unravels the theme of family and home into the film, and discusses it much like many other of it's kind - the traveling, the road, the buddy movie. Where "Idaho" separates in the road and western like themes is the other topics it immerses it's main subjects in, as the fill out for the script.

Also, Shakespeare and Orson Welles influences are drawn from Henry IV and so forth, which gives the film a shine of brilliance and potential that Van Sant ran with over his career.