My Own Private Idaho [Blu-ray]

Existence originates from a biological father and mother that conceive offspring which they nurture into childhood and later adolescence. Eventually this teen turns into an adult who often is a reflection of what the child acquired or missed during the years of parental rearing. Thus, existence is the accumulation of what the parents have provided for their beloved child. My Own Private Idaho depicts Mike Waters' (River Phoenix) existence, as it shows that he desires to experience fond childhood memories. 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.The story opens in a remote location in Idaho, along a rarely traveled highway, where Mike stands and waits for someone to pick him up. This moment has symbolic value to Mike's existence, as he seems to be stuck somewhere in his own development while he waits for someone to save him from his isolation. Yet, no one comes to his rescue as his narcolepsy takes control of him and puts him asleep.For much of the film Mike seems to be asleep while dreaming of his mother and his youthful years. Dreams generated through his narcolepsy create an imaginative haven of warmth and motherly care. In essence, the narcolepsy gives the impression that it is a defense mechanism for Mike, which appears to be triggered during stressful situations. The narcolepsy also has a symbolical value as it shows his innocent search for motherly affection and his vulnerability, which can be compared to a child's defenselessness to exposure unless someone is taking care of the child.Despite the condition that Mike possesses, he drifts around in Seattle making his living as a male street prostitute that sells his body to those who want to buy his company for a few hours. The few hours provides a small opportunity for him to receive some form of affection, which he desperately needs. When an older woman picks him up for the services that he provides he has a narcoleptic attack since the woman reminds him of his mother. Two young men that are also visiting this woman carry Mike out. One of these men is Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) with whom Mike eventually falls in love.The second time Mike meets Scott is in the arms of him, as Mike is recovering from a bout of narcolepsy in Portland. In Portland the audience gets to meet a wide range of characters that all have a dark and muddled past from which they all seem to try to escape. One of these characters, Bob Pigeon (William Richert), brings to mind Charles Dickens' Fagin from Oliver Twist who is the leader for a group of young thieves, which is cleverly woven together with a Shakespearean touch. The combination of Scott and Bob brings to mind two infamous characters, Prince Hal and Sir John Falstaff, from Henry IV. This scene seems to be out of place, yet it somehow the director Gus Van Sant pulls it off and makes it credible.Scott, the son of the wealthy Mayor of Portland, provides a similar image, as Prince Hal does in Henry IV. First he is supportive of his friends, as he set out with Mike to find his lost mother whom he has not seen for many years. Along the journey they begin to drift apart, as Scott begins to embrace his roots in the aristocracy of Portland. Mike is left to his own device, as Scott turns his back to the world in which he learned about belonging, human cruelty, and love.Van Sant gives the story an artistic touch through Shakespeare, wonderful mise-en-scene, and how he frames each scene, which provides a vision that travels on a path between slumber and consciousness. Emotions drift with the characters' actions, as they help in building a mutual foundation that rests on their unstable backgrounds. Backgrounds without nurturing love and affection seem to leave people in a state of sadness, melancholy, and despair while trying to find their own existence through others. Van Sant delivers this notion together with several other ideas to the audience in a complex, dark, and disconnected tale of belonging, love, rejection, and much more, which leaves the viewers in deep contemplation.

A couple of weeks ago I was going through some movies on my computer. I came across the movie "Sneakers" I was instantly reminded of River Phoenix. It's been over 20 years since he left. I had forgotten how much I loved him. I would always get such a warm positive good feeling from him when I saw him in a movie. I had seen a handful of his movies when he was here, "Indiana Jones", "I Love You To Death", "Running On Empty" and "Sneakers". I still haven't seen "Stand By Me" to this day. I looked up all the movies that he had made and this one "My Own Private Idaho" I had to see it since it was gay themed as I have a lot of gay themed movies in my collection - "Making Love", "Brokeback Mountain", "The Trip" and so on. I never remembered hearing about this movie when it came out in 1991. 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. It is especially heart wrenching for me when I hear the pedal steel guitar play "America The Beautiful" and seeing River's character Mike Waters looking down the long endless lonely road. It is heartbreaking for me at the end of the movie as he's lost his love and best friend, his mother abandoned him, he's homeless and then two guys steal what he has left, his bag and his shoes while he's asleep. It will always bring me to tears. But then there is a glimmer of hope. A kind person scoops him up in his car or so it seems. The movie's visuals are very haunting with the music with scenes of salmon going upstream, rolling clouds and sunset, barns falling from the sky and scenes of the Pacific Northwest and Italy. There are some funny parts in this movie too. 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. 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. He did so much for us on social issues with animals and people at his young age. It saddens me today that young people and not so young people aren't aware of some of the most hateful and cruel legislation some of these conservatives are trying to pass today in the name of the Christian religion. They have no concept. They are constantly on their smart phones texting and talking about the Kardashians unaware of dangerous and cruel hateful things that are trying to be passed by our so called compassionate and very ignorant higher-ups. For if River Phoenix was here today he would be very aware of this and be standing up for people's basic rights. He was a very compassionate intelligent young man. I also thank his parents so much for his upbringing and making him aware of these things. I will always remember River Phoenix, not mainly for his acting, but mostly for his compassion for animal and human rights and the environment. All issues that are important to me. I will also remember his music. I'm a musician myself and understand his passion for music. "Across The Way" performed by River's band, Aleka's Attic is a masterpiece. To director Gus Van Sant-You made a masterpiece in "My Own Private Idaho" with River shining his brightest, and to River Phoenix- You are the greatest River of them all and may all your tributaries spread throughout this earth and beyond.

Good movie. Dark & strange subject matter is explored in a light & colorful way. The overall theme was easy to get, but the details of the narrative often seemed confused. However, the fun way this film was styled & assembled, combined with the star talents of River Phoenix & Keanu Reeves made it watchable. I guess this film is a dramedy. Surreal & colorfully shot. The heaviness of the literal subject matter doesn't weigh this film down, defying the odds.One of the main protagonists being a narcoleptic allows for the curation of surreal dreamscapes due to his sudden fits of deep REM sleep. He appears to be dreaming of his mother & an emotional connection that manages to evade him despite a plethora of physical encounters.The sexual themes aren't presented in a graphic way, just more subtle. The 1st sex scene comes right away, & although nothing is seen, what is happening can not be denied. From there, sex is either shown symbolically, or described verbally, so this aspect of the film is presented very subtle, so it does not weigh the movie down, & the other themes can be focused on by the viewer. This opens the picture up to a larger audience.This is an "experimental" film, meaning the story is presented in a non-conventional way. Shakespearian style dialogue plus surreal & colorful imagery + River Phoenix = watchable. Add in a dash of conventional, traditional movie making, like the 2 of them on a motorcycle, the road trip aspect, going to Rome, etc...

I'm not one for absolutes but this might be my favorite movie ever and this criterion release is as elegant as this film deserves.

This is brave movie making. Gus Van Sant took a giant risk with this masterpiece about rent boys. The two stars (Reeves,Phoenix) took a major gamble as starring as said Rent boys. The risks paid off. 'My Own Private Idaho' is a great little off-beat movie.I watched it 20 years ago (loved it), and i watched the dvd version again recently, and even after all those years this movie still mesmerises me. One aspect of 'My Own Private Idaho" that I thought was interesting was its use of Shakespeare's Henry IV (I think, but i could be wrong), with Keanu Reeves taking the role of the dissolute Prince Hal, who at the end of the film rejects his prostitute friends to emerge like 'the sun, as if from behind clouds' in order to properly inherit his father's kingdom. Reeves cruel rejection obviously destroys the character played by River Phoenix.Outstanding film! River Phoenix was an extra-ordinary actor. Having watched the campsite scene again in My Own Private Idaho, I noticed Phoenix's body-language, and his improvisation acting skills and intonation, and i realised that he (Phoenix) was one of the greatest actors in the history of motion pictures. And there are certain scenes in Running On Empty in which he steps completely outside the box (to use a contemporary cliche).Gus Van Sant is supposed to have fallen in love with him. Don't know if that's true or not, but in Van Sants book (available on this site) one character falls in love with another character who plays a rent Boy in a movie.

An amazing Gay Iconic movie with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix! It's gritty and real! A perfect Road Movie with great acting. I bought the Blu-ray version. It came in perfect packaging and even includes a really neat booklet with Interviews, Reviews and some of the Script. Well worth the price for a fan of this Iconic movie.

"My Own Private Idaho"(1991) is directed by Gus Van Sant(Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester). The film is about two street hustlers, one (Mike - River Phoenix) of whom has narcolepsy and is continually falling asleep wherever that may be, and the other, Scott (Keenu Reeves), who comes from a well to do family. 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. Mike's search for his mother takes them all the way from Portland, Oregon to Rome, Italy.This blu-ray set comes with a 68 page booklet with essays by Amy Taubin, JT Leroy, Lance Loud, and reprinted interviews with Van Sant, Phoenix, and Keenu Reeves. This is a new, restored 4K digital transfer.This disc has audio commentary with the director and some features, including the making of the film, an interview with film scholar Paul Arthur, a conversation between the producer Laurie Parker and River Phoenix's sister Rain, deleted scenes and an audio conversation between JT Leroy and Jonathan Caouette.

My personal opinion is that this is definitely an Art Film, somewhat temerarious. The directing and acting is excellent. My husband and I are both seniors my husband who is 84 felt somewhat uncomfortable throughout the movie. Not with the homosexuality but with the sadness of lifestyle of these two individuals, Mike and Scott. An unusual story and unusual pairing of two young men from such different backgrounds, their loneliness and disconnection can be deeply felt. They are emotional opposites drawn together, yet destined to part. Some will embrace this film , some will not, to see it or not can only be a personal choice.

This movie is like nothing I've ever seen. It is about street life and hustling, homelessness and marginalization, homosexuality, and friendship, and much more. Off-beat and shakespearian at times, this arthouse production is existentialist in its undertones, but no aspect of it feels forced, rather, everything flows naturally. The direction is excellent, as the movie grows on the viewer as the story unfolds. Performances are solid throughout, and River Phoenix's performance is truly outstanding.