For fuck’s sake, don’t watch this film. Yes, it stars Keanu Reeves and Udo Kier in a small role, but it’s just so damn awful. Mike (River Pheonix) is a male prostitute and has narcolepsy – a disease which causes him to fall into deep sleep in an instant. His best friend is Scott (Keanu Reeves), the mayor’s son who went on being a vagabond and, like Mike, a prostitute. OK, so it’s a drama. But it had Keanu, I thought. He is always cool. This film will be alright. I was wrong, except for the part of Keanu being cool – he is, but everything else is just plain shit. There are dramas, good dramas, like “Fight Club” or “Oldboy” or “A Clockwork Orange” and there are those dramas that try to look like some art films but the truth is almost nobody understands them. “It’s some artsy stuff, I don’t really get it, but it must be good.” Well, it isn’t. “My Own Private Idaho”...
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My Own Private Idaho
Sound (3)2.5 Plot (3)2.5 Cast (3)2.5 Special Effects (3)2.5 Length & Pace (3)2.5 Cinematography (3)2.5 |
Directors: Gus Van Sant,
Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Gus Van Sant (written by),
Release: 29 September 1991 (USA)
Tagline: This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.
Plot: Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
Cast: River Phoenix - Mike Waters, Keanu Reeves - Scott Favor, James Russo - Richard Waters, William Richert - Bob Pigeon, Rodney Harvey - Gary, Chiara Caselli - Carmella, Michael Parker - Digger, Jessie Thomas - Denise, Flea - Budd, Grace Zabriskie - Alena, Tom Troupe - Jack Favor, Udo Kier - Hans, Sally Curtice - Jane Lightwork, Robert Lee Pitchlynn - Walt, Mickey Cottrell - Daddy Carroll
Runtime: 104 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Company: New Line Cinema
Links: IMDb Profile
Categories: Drama, Romance
Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Gus Van Sant (written by),
Release: 29 September 1991 (USA)
Tagline: This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.
Plot: Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
Cast: River Phoenix - Mike Waters, Keanu Reeves - Scott Favor, James Russo - Richard Waters, William Richert - Bob Pigeon, Rodney Harvey - Gary, Chiara Caselli - Carmella, Michael Parker - Digger, Jessie Thomas - Denise, Flea - Budd, Grace Zabriskie - Alena, Tom Troupe - Jack Favor, Udo Kier - Hans, Sally Curtice - Jane Lightwork, Robert Lee Pitchlynn - Walt, Mickey Cottrell - Daddy Carroll
Runtime: 104 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Company: New Line Cinema
Links: IMDb Profile
Categories: Drama, Romance
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My Own Private Idaho
Recommendations:
For fuck’s sake, don’t watch this film. Yes, it stars Keanu Reeves and Udo Kier in a small role, but it’s just so damn awful.
Mike (River Pheonix) is a male prostitute and has narcolepsy – a disease which causes him to fall into deep sleep in an instant. His best friend is Scott (Keanu Reeves), the mayor’s son who went on being a vagabond and, like Mike, a prostitute.
OK, so it’s a drama. But it had Keanu, I thought. He is always cool. This film will be alright. I was wrong, except for the part of Keanu being cool – he is, but everything else is just plain shit. There are dramas, good dramas, like “Fight Club” or “Oldboy” or “A Clockwork Orange” and there are those dramas that try to look like some art films but the truth is almost nobody understands them. “It’s some artsy stuff, I don’t really get it, but it must be good.” Well, it isn’t.
“My Own Private Idaho” is such a pile of quasi-philosophical crap, and not even Keanu or Udo, the German car parts seller named Hans, can save it. The second film in my life which I couldn’t finish watching.
It's one of those films for gaywad critics. They would certainly describe it as best film ever, but in words that 90% of us would not understand.
I say, plainly and simply - it sucks major ass.
Rating: 1/10
- review by Ventilation Shaft
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My Own Private Idaho
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I don't know if this would count as a dirty confession: I tend to not be moved by Gus Van Sant's films.
I like to think that I get them. In fact, I like to think that they are similar in a sense to many of the movies I've made myself: and his writing is similar to my screenwriting style (without the whole gay thing, not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just not).
And still, I've seen a handful of his flicks and I'm pretty sure that I tend to feel fairly flat after all of them. Even Elephant, a movie that I had been trying to write since Columbine in '99, but GVS beat me to the punch: I was totally stoked to see it, I saw it, and when I left the theater, I had no desire to think to profoundly on it.
My Own Private Idaho strikes me as a film that could have easily fallen into the same emotional void, and it's not helped along by Van Sant's insistence to Shakespearize his dialogue, his insistence to use Keanu Reeves in the worst way that you can use Keanu Reeves, and his insistence to take his story outside of the most enjoyable setting of the entire film.
But, the movie is saved by a drop-dead remarkable performance by River Phoenix.
I don't know if this movie can be called Van Sant's opus magnum, but it's my favorite of his films (I haven't seen all of Drugstore Cowboy yet, but I bet that would totally be a fave). Idaho has the attitude of an epic coming-of-age movie mixed with the gravitas of a tidy, little independent road movie; and it fits nicely into the canon of Van Sant the auteur.
The story follows Mike Waters (Phoenix) a street kid in the northwest (mostly Portland, but it spends time in Seattle and Waters' hometown in Idaho) who has a lifestyle that consists of turning tricks and robbing other hustlers. His friend, Scott Favor (Reeves), is some sort of well-to-do-turned-runaway that plans to inherit his father's estate when he turns twenty-one. Favor and Waters cold chill with a larger group of street kids, headed by the portly Bob Pigeon (played by the excellent William Richert).
According to my research (wikipedia), Van Sant based much of this film on Shakespeare's Henry IVs and Henry V (this basically inspired Scott's story) and merged that with City of Night by John Rechy (which inspired much of Mike's story).
To open, we have Mike Waters standing in the middle of an empty road in Idaho, monologuing on how this road, this particular road, goes on forever. He's a wanderer, probably a runaway, with complete indifference as to where he will end up. All the other facets of his personality (he's gay, he's fairly reckless, he's insightful and quick-witted, he's narcoleptic) are side stories to the fact that he is going nowhere and will end up anywhere.
That anywhere happens to be Portland, which is poignant: Portland has an awful lot of street kids. One time, when I was like 19 or 20, I was in Portland smoking a cigarette outside of a BK, and a guy came up to me, bummed a smoke, and asked me for how long I've been homeless. I was all, "Dude, I'm not homeless" and he was all, "It's cool. It's cool, man" and he walked away.If you thought I was homeless, what'd you bum the smoke for? Wouldn't you think that I'd need it?
(on a side note: I don't smoke anymore--its a filthy habit and to all of you 13 year-olds reading this: by the time you reach 21 or 22, not a bar in the US will allow you to smoke inside it, so when you're out drinking in the winter, you have to cart your ass outside, face the elements, and then get inside; and you'll lose your seat)
Anyway, Phoenix brings a wisened old-souledness to the character of Mike that must be 100% acknowledged. With a faux confidence to mask his insecurities and a desire to attain something that he can't quite figure out, River Phoenix carries MOPI
to a level of transcendence that is reached rarely and erratically in cinema.Even with its flaws, and there are many, Idaho holds a certain commonality that one doesn't normally find in a film about homeless youth -- for example, people are mortified by the conditions and oppression in Slumdog Millionaire, however, in Idaho, the oppression is absent, and in its place is a sort of irreverent realism and freedom. With River Phoenix navigating, Idaho is able to pick up this thread of reckless youth that is universal in American (and maybe Western) society regardless of social standing.
When I was a teenager, I remember that all of the old people were all, "You stupid kids! You think your damn invincible! And that's why you die in car accidents."
That's not it. Teens do not feel invincible. At some level, most if not all adults cannot teach juveniles any more either because of the adults' lack of knowledge or because of a lack of understanding of the active contemporary culture in which teens find themselves. At that point, we find the beginning of the generational gap, the kid is left in a five year long limbo where they have to make the mistakes or uncover the mystery of their existence for themselves.
These issues are what Idaho brings to the table. Mike Waters is a road kid, he knows the value of knowledge and experience and he's definitely trying to accumulate these things through his interactions with his tricks, his posse, his friend Scott (the Favored), and his liege Bob Pigeon.
He also knows the dangers of vulnerability -- he's a narcoleptic and his affliction strikes when times are at the most stressful: when you are living on the streets and fulfilling the fantasies of closet homosexuals for money, falling asleep at stressful times is sort of a bad habit. Mike Waters does not think that he's invincible, he's just not experienced enough to know how to handle all things, so he jumps in feet first.
Because of Scott Favor's situation, that of a person who is choosing to live below society with the knowledge that he has nothing to lose, we see that American street kids are not the oppressed. Truthfully, they are the spoiled derelicts of American Culture. They are the blatant example of the long tether that Americans give to their kids. They are usually misunderstood, sometimes emotionally unstable, often fiercely independent, and yet they still find cohesion in their situations and community in their shared desire for independence. That is their Private Idahos.
In Mike's mind, things were at their best when he lived in a family unit in Idaho. Old home videos of a toddler-Mike (with a mullet, which, to the father of a 16 month-old, is totally sad) standing in front of a double-wide with his smiling mom litter the film's stream of consciousness-like timeline. A shot of an old dilapidated house in the middle of a field with a big sky overhead and the continental divide way way way out in the distance transition us between scenes. These are Mike's visions of perfection: his Private Idaho where everything was sane and comfortable. (editor's note: Idaho is not perfect)
But, in the bits and pieces of extrapolation that we get throughout the film, it seems that his mom had left his dad at some point. Mike and Scott make way to his dad's double-wide to find a drunken, depressed, and violent loaner. He catches a lead to a hotel that his mom might be working at, only to find that she's moved to Rome. They catch a flight to Rome, only to find that she had been teaching an Italian girl English, but left when the job had been done.
The question for Mike is: in the event that he finds his mom, what then? Can she possibly live up to this idealization that he's chased around the world?
The impression that we're left with is that it doesn't matter. Even if he found her and she was not pleased to see him, even if she kicked him out -- he had completed his journey (BTW, spoiler: he doesn't find her, at least within the timeline of this film); and he's learned the difference between reality and idealization. However, the journey itself gives him reason to persevere.
I can't think of anyone in the early 90's that could have played Mike Waters as good as, let alone better than, River Phoenix. If he would've survived, the guy would've been like Johnny Depp but better. Of course, the the L.A. is filled with woulda's.
Down sides:
Van Sant's dialogue -- I can't say how much comes directly from the three Shakespeares that he used as a base for Idaho, but I was pretty much like enough already. One or two scenes for artistic effect is one thing, the whole film was like Shakespeare comes under the overpass. It offends my sensibilities and calls attention to the craft -- I am fully against it.
Keanu Reeves -- ugh.
Sometime in 1990, someone at some casting agency sed, "You know who I bet can do alternative and poetic dialogue well? Keanu freaking Reeves." No. No no no no no no. No. I look at Keanu, and I see no wheels turning. Scott Favor is dramatic and energetic. Guess what? Keanu doesn't do over-the-top. Keanu doesn't do subtle. Keanu doesn't do dramatic. In fact, the only things that Keanu can do (and not well) is dead pan, blank, pretty, and surfer.
I love the landscape shots, but the most engaging part of the film is the street kid stuff. It has the most energy and the best ensemble (Flea kicks ass as the guy that most people who live or lived in big cities will recognize as the drunk and crazy guy that hangs out in front of the beer bar wearing a kilt or something, a buzz cut, and that angry-yet-slightly-stupid visage). About at the midpoint, Mike and Scott hit the open road in search of Mike's mom, and the movie drags a bit. I wish that Van Sant could conjure the energy of the first half into the second half -- but, eventually a director's tendencies come out.
Anyway, thanks for reading --- love ya ----
(oh yeah, I finally get my Haim on with Lucas tonight)
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My Own Private Idaho is part of the 1st Corey Haim Memorial Tragically Dead Film Festival because it stars the acting icon of Generation X: River Phoenix. Since Stand By Me, I have enjoyed RP's work. He always played parts that were masculine and sensitive, and, even as a young boy, tapped into those dynamics at a time when masculinity was Rambo and Commando or Sam "May Day" Malone. Phoenix upped the ante for actors and proved that a name actor can be an independent film star and not lose Hollywood credibility. I can truly say that I wish he was not dead more than any other artist that we've seen to this point int he festival.
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Actor. He is best remembered for his movie roles of young 'Indiana Jones' in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), and as 'Chris Chambers' in "Stand by Me" (1986). Born River Jude Bottom in a log cabin in Oregon to an unconventional 1960s family, his father, John, was a part time carpenter and his mother, Arlyn, a secretary. John and Arlyn had met in 1968 in California where they had worked as itinerant fruit pickers. His parents named him River after the river of life in Hermann Hesse's novel, "Siddhartha" and Jude after the Beatles' song "Hey, Jude." His siblings were named Joaquin, Summer, Rain, and Liberty. After living in Venezuela as members of the religious sect, Children of God, the family moved to Los Angeles and changed their last name to Phoenix. His parents encouraged all of their children to get into movies, and by age fifteen, River had begun his movie career in "Explorers" (1985), followed by "Stand by Me" (1986), and "The Mosquito Coast" (1986). His role of 'Danny Pope' in "Running on Empty" (1988) earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. A talented musician, he also played the guitar, sang and wrote music for his band, "Aleka's Attic", which included his sister, Rain. Considered an actor on the rise with a potentially unlimited career, he gave an outstanding performance as a male hustler in "My Own Private Idaho" (1991), and he was selected for numerous movie roles, beginning with "Dark Blood" (1994) and "Interview with a Vampire" (1994), for which both of his roles were given to other actors after his death. An active environmentalist, vegetarian, and member of PETA, he bought up several hundred acres of rain forest in Brazil and Costa Rica, to keep them from being cut down. Visiting actor Johnny Depp's Los Angeles nightclub, the Viper Room, while on a date with actress Samantha Mathis, he collapsed outside from an overdose of drugs, and died shortly afterwards. His ashes were scattered at his family's Florida ranch. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson)
Cause of death: Accute Multiple Drug Intoxication
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from findagrave.com(Read Less...)
Ruben of the Floating Red Couch<br />
http://www.floatingredcouch.com
Last updated: 2010-04-13 11:56:45 by user01
My Own Private Idaho
2010-05-28 04:34:53
My Own Private Idaho
I don't know if this would count as a dirty confession: I tend to not be moved by Gus Van Sant's films. I like to think that I get them. In fact, I like to think that they are similar in a sense to many of the movies I've made myself: and his writing is similar to my screenwriting style (without the whole gay thing, not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just not). And still, I've seen a handful of his flicks and I'm pretty sure that I tend to feel fairly flat after all of them. Even Elephant , a movie that I had been trying to write since Columbine in '99, but GVS beat me to the punch: I was totally stoked to see it, I saw it, and when I left the theater, I had no desire to think to profoundly on it. My Own Private Idaho strikes me as a film that could have easily fallen into the same emotional void, and it's not helped along by Van Sant's insistence to Shakespearize his dialogue, his insistence to use Keanu Reeves in the worst way that...
(Read More...)2010-04-13 11:37:06
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Movies 365: Day 11 – My Own Private Idaho
I’m sure there’s something that I’m not getting with this movie. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve never seen or read Henry IV by Shakespeare, a play that inspired much of My Own Private Idaho, or maybe it’s the fact that the film plays more like Gerry, Last Days or Elephant than it does Van Sant’s other work like Good Will Hunting, To Die For, or Finding Forrester, or maybe the film doesn’t have much interesting to say at all, and I’m just trying to read something into it. Of course, a film this disjointed, this oddly manufactured must have something to say right?
Unfortunately, I don’t think it does. According to the films Wikipedia page, Van Sant essentially merged three separate scripts to form one film, the result, feels that way. Some scenes are so well done, for example, the segment where Keanu Reeves looks out from the cover of a porn magazine, and explains his own philosophy on being a hustler, the return of Bob, a Fagin like character in lives of many of Portland’s young street hustlers, the robbery, and resulting lies from Bob that follow his return.
But overall, the film doesn’t work, which is disappointing. Keanu Reeves delivers a passable, if not good performance, as Scott Favor, the son of the mayor who has decided to live his life on the outskirts of society, at least until he gets his trust fund. River Phoenix is wonderful, if underutilized as Mike a narcoleptic young hustler in search of his mother. Great supporting turns by William Richert as Bob, and Udo Kier as Hans really make certain segments of the film shine. And then it all becomes disjointed again, and you spend your time trying to get your bearings again, just in time for everything to make sense again, only to turn around once more.
The film looks, and is shot wonderfully, but Van Sant’s success as a director only seems to underscore his failure as a writer with this project. Though I’m sure there are some who love this film, I can’t really understand why.
I’m sure there’s something that I’m not getting with this movie. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve never seen or read Henry IV by Shakespeare, a play that inspired much of My Own Private Idaho, or maybe it’s the fact that the film plays more like Gerry, Last Days or Elephant than it does Van Sant’s other work like Good Will Hunting, To Die For, or Finding Forrester, or maybe the film doesn’t have much interesting to say at all, and I’m just trying to read something into it. Of course, a film this disjointed, this oddly manufactured must have something to say right?
Unfortunately, I don’t think it does. According to the films Wikipedia page, Van Sant essentially merged three separate scripts to form one film, the result, feels that way. Some scenes are so well done, for example, the segment where Keanu Reeves looks out from the cover of a porn magazine, and explains his own philosophy on being a hustler, the return of Bob, a Fagin like character in lives of many of Portland’s young street hustlers, the robbery, and resulting lies from Bob that follow his return.
But overall, the film doesn’t work, which is disappointing. Keanu Reeves delivers a passable, if not good performance, as Scott Favor, the son of the mayor who has decided to live his life on the outskirts of society, at least until he gets his trust fund. River Phoenix is wonderful, if underutilized as Mike a narcoleptic young hustler in search of his mother. Great supporting turns by William Richert as Bob, and Udo Kier as Hans really make certain segments of the film shine. And then it all becomes disjointed again, and you spend your time trying to get your bearings again, just in time for everything to make sense again, only to turn around once more.
The film looks, and is shot wonderfully, but Van Sant’s success as a director only seems to underscore his failure as a writer with this project. Though I’m sure there are some who love this film, I can’t really understand why.
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