William Richert - Bob Pigeon. So, the blu-ray transfer is far better in many respects, but I think it actually differs from the original film, and makes for a somehow different experience. Winning three, it tied with Rambling Rose for the most awards.[50]. To sum up, My Own Private Idaho makes viewers ponder and sometimes reconsider their opinions. He hung out with hustlers on the streets of Portland, learning the, uh, tricks of the trade. Tap "Sign me up" below to receive our weekly newsletter and the [laughs softly] No. Do I? 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. By creating an account, you agree to the Mike's search for his mother takes them all the way from Portland, Oregon to Rome, Italy. My Own Private Idaho is an interesting mix of acting, directing, setting, and subject matter. The road is both a refuge and a prison in My Own Private Idaho, the seminal 1991 drama by director Gus Van Sant. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. Sign In. Here is a movie about lowlife sexual outlaws, and yet they remind us of works by Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky, not William Burroughs or Andy Warhol. 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. 2. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Waters suffers from narcolepsy and can fall asleep at any moment and in almost any circumstance. 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. Back in Portland, Bob and his gang confront a reformed Scott at a fashionable restaurant, but he rejects them. Based on William Shakespeare's play, "Henry IV, Part I." Drama 1991 1 hr 42 min. It's gritty and real! [43], In 2015, The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray, based on a restored 4K digital transfer. This is brave movie making. He sketches a world where sexuality is less a characteristic and more a tool for getting by. I miss the yellow of those wide time-lapse shots in the middle of nowhere. It is an interesting watch but the elements don't cohere very well or make for a solid movie. Rea, Steven. 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. He never had "real" parents who were there for him, and his only father figure is Bob, the man who acts as a leader to the group of hustlers working in Portland. Lgbtq+. In this, and every scene, Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you've seen him before: it's a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once. Van Sant knew some of the local street kids and had them on set as advisers and extras. Gus Van Sant. During a lunch break one day, Van Sant turned the camera on these guys and interviewed them, hoping to inspire the cast with some authenticity. Existence originates from a biological father and mother that conceive offspring which they nurture into childhood and later adolescence. Zajedno polaze na putovanje samospoznaje i shvataju da se njihov odnos usput uruava. for "my own private idaho criterion blu ray". Surreal character study focusing on the friendship between two male hustlers, Mike and Scott, in Portland, Oregon. With the money they receive from Hans, Mike and Scott travel to Italy. Scott grew up in a house of privilege as the son of the current Portland mayor, with his street life a manifestation of the rebellion against the oppression of that privilege. My Own Private Idaho continued that trend (as well as Drugstore Cowboy 's depiction of street culture, trading drug addicts for male hustlers) and featured River Phoenix as a gay male prostitute. I also thank his parents so much for his upbringing and making him aware of these things. Venice is the most progressive festival. Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022. [8] Van Sant realized he could blend the two stories together in the manner of William S. Burroughs' "cut up" technique. (Reeves also did similar research, though not as extensively.) Mr. Phoenix (Dogfight) and Mr. Reeves (of the two Bill and Ted comedies) are very fine in what may be the two best roles they'll find in years. My Own Private Idaho Full Movie (1992) FREEWATCH FULL MOVIE FREE! https://epixflix.com/movie/tt0102494/WATCH MORE MOVIES NOW! https://www.youtube.com. Later, after being fellated by a client in Seattle, Mike returns to his favorite spots to pick up clients. Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "What plot it has is borrowed, improbably, from Henry IV, and whenever anyone manages to speak an entire paragraph, it is usually a Shakespearean paraphrase. That night, Bob has a fatal heart attack. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. I guess that the story concept stands to have a little more depth to its dramatics, as surely as its interpretation stands to be more focused and less stylistically overblown, but on paper, this film's subject matter dealing with two men bonding, maybe as more than friends, on their adventure to uncover their pasts and find paths to the future does a lot of things uniquely, and has its own dramatic value to both be done justice and betrayed by Gus Van Sant. Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2005. It encompasses what it means to be an heir in modern American society. 1. It can reshape political sensibilities in case a person feels the necessity of changes. He decided to send the script to the agents of Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, figuring that their agents would reject the script. 'My Own Private Idaho' is a great little off-beat movie. ", Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, "Kiefer Sutherland turned down the lead role in My Own Private Idaho to go skiing", https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/my-own-private-idaho, "Essential Gay Themed Films To Watch, My Own Private Idaho", "Timothe Chalamet Wins Indie Spirit Award for Best Actor, Becomes Third Youngest Winner in History", "Toronto International Film Festival (1991)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Own_Private_Idaho&oldid=1146891849, American avant-garde and experimental films, Films about male prostitution in the United States, LGBT-related adaptations of works by William Shakespeare, Modern adaptations of works by William Shakespeare, Pages using multiple image with manual scaled images, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures, Vana O'Brien as Sharon Waters, Mike's mother, Jean Poulot and Jamie Haggerty "Bachu Ber", Elliot Sweetland, Richard Letcher and Vernon Dunn ", Lori Presthus, Hollis Taylor and Kim Burton "The Funerals", Conrad "Bud" Montgomery "Getting Into the Outside", This page was last edited on 27 March 2023, at 15:50. "[30] Copyright Fandango. He wrote the screenplay for and directed My Own Private Idaho, as he did with his two previous feature films. Van Sant realized that Prince Hal in the plays resembled Scott and the sidekick was Mike. Matt . Mike's homosexuality is in combat with the conservative ideals . I had forgotten how much I loved him. Scott, the son of the mayor of Portland, confides to Bob that when he turns 21, he will inherit his father's fortune and retire from street hustling. A couple of times a week, they would play music together. Must purchase this movie, or at least see it! There's not much to the musical style of this film, but it's well worth waiting for when it does come into play, uniquely substituting original score work with many a decent, entertaining tune that livens up the flavor of this stylistically lively film, like cinematography by John Campbell and Eric Alan Edwards that, while often flat lighting and coloration, is well-toned and framed enough to help draw your eyes toward nifty visuals. The sheer, expressive beauty of those images haunted me for days. Still he resisted. As a bonus, heres Kier performing the same song on television in 1985. The American hit movie that came out in the year 1991 on 29th September managed to gain a lot of popularity. This movie brings attention to the discarded children living in cities all over our country. In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a gay hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Van Sant offered images of homosexuals that were as complex and deep as . Van Sant originally had the screen go black when Mike passed out, but was not satisfied with this approach. Synopsis Wherever, whatever, have a nice day. Phoenix kept trying to convince him, going so far as to bring Van Sant to Richert's house for a reading of the screenplay. My Own Private Idaho adds a new ingredient: a kind of boho sweetness. To achieve the effect of magazine cover boys on the newsstand coming to life and talking to each other, Van Sant went old-school. River Phoenix is just fantastic, and Van Sant really knows his stuff. It was something I wrote down a night, two nights, before, and then I showed it to Keanu and Gus. 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. wide, Release Date (Streaming): Trailer. 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 . To those who do not understand the disorder, it appears that he must be on drugs, or mentally deficient, or from another planet. River Phoenix (Stand by Me) and Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) star in this haunting tale from Gus Van Sant (Mala Noche), 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. Email address. 5 on Billboard 's Hot Dance Club Play chart. [21] When asked if he was worried that playing a gay prostitute might hurt his public image, Reeves said, "Hurt my image? 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. "I always know where I am by the way that the road looks. 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. Man, Van Sant sure loves him some Portland, about as much as men, and he was able to put gay themes in here, so I reckon this is a definitive film for him. Van Sant had three ideas rolling around his head that he smushed into one movie. R. Starring River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo. It's the first and far from the last offbeat touch in Van Sant's film. An amazing Gay Iconic movie with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix! DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by director Gus Van Sant, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack Alternate Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack Illustrated 2005 audio conversation between Van Sant and filmmaker Todd Haynes The Making of My Own Private Idaho, a 2005 documentary featuring cast and crew Kings of the Road, a 2005 interview with film scholar Paul Arthur on Van Sants adaptation of Shakespeares Henry IV and Orson Welless Chimes at Midnight Conversation from 2005 between producer Laurie Parker and actor River Phoenixs sister Rain Audio conversation from 2005 between writer JT Leroy and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette Deleted scenes Trailer PLUS: A book featuring essays by film critic Amy Taubin and Leroy; a 1991 article by Lance Loud; and reprinted interviews with Van Sant, Phoenix, and actor Keanu Reeves, Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, [{"displayPrice":"$21.96","priceAmount":21.96,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"21","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"96","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"x3T51auQVBfGeCbjZza07NDrM3xW%2BF92KWal7CJWjiPS80%2Fqq34CSJKNi0bvdqJYRwgAKstpq1NbOoEh7jfALZo%2FkRiJtMY%2Bh1tY1AycU0zKOI6wR9kIjMASv6EEYiT3bNWsOr8TODDdgTDQ%2Bya47hR5pAvqLJ9i7N%2BcktKWk7K6RSg0eH006SgQtxck3RoX","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]. Richard informs Mike that their mother works as a hotel maid; when Mike and Scott visit her workplace, they learn she went to Italy in search of her own family. Early in his career, Kier had a cabaret actan amusing contradiction to his filmography, which has consisted mostly of serious, sinister types. [14] Reeves's agent was amenable to the project, but Phoenix's would not even show it to him. $6.4M, Runtime: My Own Private Idaho had its premiere at the 48th Venice International Film Festival, and received largely positive reviews from critics, including Roger Ebert and those of The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. Dark & strange subject matter is explored in a light & colorful way. 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. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price. The movie plays out in an almost dream-like way that's hard to describe. Everything Everywhere All At Once [Blu-ray]. Rated R Please use a different way to share. A strange but somehow affecting modernization of William Shakespeare's Henry IV, My Own Private Idaho is driven by an incredible performance from River Phoenix and a sort of fleeting beauty in the story and cinematography. Please try again. Roles of this density, for young actors, do not come by that often". [48][49] The film's six nominations at the 7th Independent Spirit Awards tied with Hangin' with the Homeboys for the most nominations at that ceremony. Drama, My Own Private Idaho. 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. [5] Parker also had a friend named Scott, a street kid like himself. [45] River Phoenix received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1991 Venice Film Festival. I loved it. I've alluded to it time and again, but when you come down to it, the biggest problem with this film is overstylization, which plays a large part in the narrative disjointing, but doesn't end there, prominently playing with strange imagery, frantic structuring and other classic forms of artistic bloating that leave the final product to feel more ambitious with its style rather than its substance. Drama, The star of We the Animals and Looking looks back on the movies that expanded his idea of what cinema could be and made him want to be an actor. It's character-driven rather than plot-driven, but the fine cinematography and the unquestionably excellent acting of River Phoenix carry the movie. All rights reserved. Don't forget to hit the 'Like' button and leave commons.#MyOwnPrivateIdaho #RiverPhoenix #gaymovietrailers Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Saving Private Ryan (Sapphire Series) (Blu-ray) $16.99. 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. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. My Own Private Idaho 1991 Drama Feature Film 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. In the script, Van Sant made the Scott character a rich kid, also fashioned after street hustlers Van Sant had met in Portland. I would always get such a warm positive good feeling from him when I saw him in a movie. The main problem is that little is done to first establish an emotional connection to the main character. Visually dazzling and thematically groundbreaking, My Own Private Idaho is a deeply moving look at unrequited love and life on societys margins. A couple of weeks ago I was going through some movies on my computer. IT'S A COMBINATION OF THREE STORIES, INCLUDING ONE BASED ON SHAKESPEARE.. Moments later, an unidentified figure pulls up in a car, picks the unconscious Mike up, places him in the vehicle, and drives away. Ultra-Stereo, Stereo, Surround, On DVD This Week: Magic Mike XXL, Insidious: Chapter 3, And More, RT Interview: Gus van Sant and Dustin Lance Black on Milk, RT25: Celebrating 25 years of Rotten Tomatoes. I will always remember River Phoenix, not mainly for his acting, but mostly for his compassion for animal and human rights and the environment. [11] Not to be deterred, Van Sant got the idea for Reeves to personally deliver the film treatment to Phoenix at his home in Florida. 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