I came across the movie "Sneakers" I was instantly reminded of River Phoenix. Reeves cruel rejection obviously destroys the character played by River Phoenix. There are some funny parts in this movie too. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. I bought the Blu-ray version. By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in this haunting tale from Gus Van Sant about two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams of the mother who abandoned him, and Scott Favor, the wayward son of the mayor of Portland and the object of Mikes desire. In the early stages of development, when Van Sant was still thinking as inexpensively as possible, he envisioned using non-actors to play the lead roles. Mike Waters and Scott Favor are young male hustlers (with both male and female clients) working the Pacific Northwest, they often hanging out with other young male hustlers in an abandoned building in Portland under the mentorship of an overweight homeless gay man named Bob Pigeon. Original Title: My Own Private Idaho Hailed as one of the most talented independent filmmakers after 1989's Drugstore Cowboy, it is hardly surprising that Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho. To achieve the effect of magazine cover boys on the newsstand coming to life and talking to each other, Van Sant went old-school. $6.4M, Runtime: [20] The campfire scene, originally just three pages,[20] was expanded by Phoenix into an eight-page scene in which Mike professes his love for Scott, thereby making the character's homosexuality obvious, as opposed to Van Sant's more ambiguous original version. It followed the genres of adventure and drama and combined them to make a wholesome package. A couple of weeks ago I was going through some movies on my computer. The two stars (Reeves,Phoenix) took a major gamble as starring as said Rent boys. My Own Private Idaho originated from John Rechy's 1963 novel City of Night, which featured street hustlers who did not admit to being gay. My Own Private Idaho ( 1991) Ending / spoiler (3 votes) Add something More info Mistakes Quotes Ending F**k Marry Kill More Mike doesn't find his mother in Italy. Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2016. also showed me MR RIVER PHOENIX'S IMPROV made this movie SOOOO fucking amazing. Together, they embark on a quest to find Mike's mother, traveling from Portland to Idaho to Italy, with Scott picking up a beautiful girl along the way. Watching the film, I was reminded of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, in which Raskolnikov, the murderer of the old lady, suffers from epileptic seizures. Cinemark I bought the Blu-ray version. Surreal character study focusing on the friendship between two male hustlers, Mike and Scott, in Portland, Oregon. Dark & strange subject matter is explored in a light & colorful way. My Own Private Idaho is an interesting mix of acting, directing, setting, and subject matter. 1991, 104 min\rCountry: US\rStudio : Criterion\rCast: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Udo Kier, William Richert, James Russo, Flea, Rodney Harvey, Grace Zabriskie, Chiara Caselli\rDirector: Gus Van Sant\rScreenwriter: Gus Van Sant\r\rMy Own Private Idaho is a 1991 independent drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V, and starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. He didn't pare it down. . Life centers around who you get a ride from, where you spend the night, how much money you have in your pocket. Purchase My Own Private Idaho on digital and stream instantly or download offline. [8] In essence, this method involves various story fragments and ideas mixed and matched together to form a unique story. [11], Van Sant showed the script to a 20th Century Fox executive who liked Shakespeare. Thus, existence is the accumulation of what the parents have provided for their beloved child. In one of the most significant scenes, his best friend. He starts talking to himself and notices that the road looks "like someone's face, like a fucked-up face." I had forgotten how much I loved him. Phoenix arrived in Portland two weeks before principal photography was to begin to do research and Van Sant remembered, "He seemed to be changing into this character". The overall theme was easy to get, but the details of the narrative often seemed confused. The BD is an improvement in many ways (textures, detail, tonal range, etc), but there's something I actually miss, although some people who've reviewed this title tend to consider in a rather different light: I first saw this film when it was theatrically released in 1991, and I miss the "Kodak palette" yellow-ish hue of the DVD transfer, because (as far as I can recall) it was consistent with the visual experience of the old 35mm projection. My Own Private Idaho is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V.The story follows two friends, Mike Waters and Scott Favor, played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves respectively, as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them from Portland, Oregon, to . The new high-definition transfer is presented in 1080p/24hz and comes from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative (the DVD was a high-definition scan of an . After getting some attention with his micro-budget debut, Mala Noche, Van Sant wanted to make My Own Private Idaho next. Van Sant's script is something of a mess with its overstylized structuring which thins down exposition and bloats filler to the point of serious focal unevenness, but its wit gets it by a long way on the back of sharp, sometimes pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue, and certain genuinely thoughtful moments in characterization and dramatic set piece crafting, sold by direction that is just as effectively thoughtful. Always gotta be different. Richard tells a story of a man he claims is Mike's father, but Mike says that he knows it is Richard. 198 likes, 3 comments - Doubt Mag. He has some of the same moods and traits as Mike Waters does here: Both live in unreal worlds, detached from the ordinary progress of time by their conditions. Shoot, you can keep your potatoes and wolves, because if I was to privatize my own state, I don't know if I would go with Idaho, although it is better than Iowa. I bought the blu-ray just to upgrade from the previous DVD edition, which has pretty much the same extras, but comes from a different transfer. Mike identifies more as gay, while Scott identifies more as straight, seeing his sexual encounters with male clients solely business. [1] Since its release, it has grown in popularity and been deemed a cult classic, especially among LGBT audiences. Roles of this density, for young actors, do not come by that often". Mike and Scott are soon reunited with Bob Pigeon, a middle-aged mentor to a gang of street kids and hustlers who live in an abandoned apartment building. When I hear this music "America The Beautiful" in this movie it is a tearful reminder for me of how we profess this country to be the greatest country in the world and at the same time we are so cruel and hateful to some of its people and combined with fact that River, this beautiful human being has left us. Van Sant originally had the screen go black when Mike passed out, but was not satisfied with this approach. Mike is like a holy fool or a clown, and his only real attachment is to Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), another hustler. Drama, Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Privacy Policy Really amazing! The story follows two friends, Mike and Scott, as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them to Mike's hometown in Idaho and then to Italy in search of Mike's mother.Subscribefor new updates. 1991 Directed by Gus Van Sant. 2. Touching Available to rent or buy Rent HD $2.99 Buy HD $9.99 More purchase My Own Private Idaho. Genres: Drama, Road Movie, New Queer Cinema, LGBTQ. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. He is picked up by a wealthy older woman, who takes him to her mansion, where he finds two fellow hustlers she also hired. The way Van Sant wrote it, the scene where Mike and Scott sit around a campfire in the desert, where Mike confesses his love for Scott, was a three-page scene with no such declaration. An Eye on the Private River Phoenix. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 Oct. 1991, www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/1991_1013_ane.htm. One comes from a rich family, the other from poverty. Existence originates from a biological father and mother that conceive offspring which they nurture into childhood and later adolescence. We dont share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we dont sell your information to others. Abandoned as a child, he is obsessed with finding his long-lost mother. [8] Van Sant realized he could blend the two stories together in the manner of William S. Burroughs' "cut up" technique. The words and the, For the past thirty years, the British Film Institute has been honoring the best in contemporary and classic LGBT cinema from around the world, with its annual BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival. Carmela, a young woman who lives there, tells Mike that his mother returned to the United States months ago. The internal desires appear in Mike's dreams, as he often falls into sudden slumber that habitually crawls upon him through his sleeping disorder, narcolepsy. It came in perfect packaging and even includes a really neat booklet with Interviews, Reviews and some of the Script. An amazing Gay Iconic movie with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix! Mike's homosexuality is in combat with the conservative ideals . The film has an intriguing mix of quirkiness and various film techniques, to the breathtaking shots of the natural world that the two pass through. 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. The next day the hustlers hold a rowdy funeral for Bob, while in the same cemetery, a few yards away, Scott attends a solemn funeral for his father. Although Keanu Reeves is better than usual as Scott, it's the late River Phoenix who is absolutely mesmerizing in his role as Mike. It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "The achievement of this film is that it wants to evoke that state of drifting need, and it does. [5], Early drafts of the screenplay were set on Hollywood Boulevard, not Portland, with working titles such as Blue Funk and Minions of the Moon. The film was a moderate financial success, grossing over $8 million, above its estimated budget of $2.5 million. But everyone in Hollywood told him a story of gay hustlers was too "niche" to get any traction. "He had decided that that scene was his character's main scene and, with Keanu's permission, he wrote it out to say something that it wasn't already saying It was his explanation of his character. Now the film became, at least in part, about unrequited love, adding another tragic element to it. 4. Shakespeare, Narcolepsy, Love, Dickens, Desires - Brilliant! The performances from River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves are simply outstanding and the simple message the. Two of my favorite scenes are River's character Mike doing the little Dutch boy scene and scenes with Hans, the gay flaming German guy. My Own Private Idaho depicts Mike Waters' (River Phoenix) existence, as it shows that he desires to experience fond childhood memories. To those who do not understand the disorder, it appears that he must be on drugs, or mentally deficient, or from another planet. Amiable, none-too-bright street hustler Mike Waters (Phoenix) works . He then experiences a narcoleptic episode and dreams of his mother comforting him as home movies of his childhood play in his mind. Read reviews and buy My Own Private Idaho (DVD)(2022) at Target. It is about street life and hustling, homelessness and marginalization, homosexuality, and friendship, and much more. This movie will be forever my favorite for River Phoenix is absolutely beautiful in it as Mike Waters, a homeless narcoleptic who's in search of his mother that abandoned him and who comes to terms with his sexuality and falls in love with his best friend, Scott Favor played by Keanu Reeves who also gives an awesome performance too as a rich man's son rebelling against his family and travelling with Mike for kicks. Those brief snippets where anonymous Portland street kids talk about their experiences aren't just meant to look like a documentarythey are a documentary. I will also remember his music. Then Keanu and I refined it, worked on it, but it was all done quickly. (Reeves also did similar research, though not as extensively.) I came across the movie "Sneakers" I was instantly reminded of River Phoenix. Mike is quiet, gay and suffers from narcolepsy. Visually dazzling and thematically groundbreaking, My Own Private Idaho is a deeply moving look at unrequited love and life on societys margins. My Own Private Idaho was the result of three projects coming together. He misses most of the crucial developments in his own life, and must depend on the kindness of strangers even to pull him out of the middle of the road. There are no "kings" or "princes," but there are politicians and their children; here Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) is the son of politician Jack Favor (Tom Troupe), the modern day versions of Prince Hal and King Henry IV . Van Sant had three ideas rolling around his head that he smushed into one movie. Teetering on the edges, the street . My Own Private Idaho adds a new ingredient: a kind of boho sweetness. 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