My Own Private Idaho - Criterion Collection
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9781559409575
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1559409576
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 01, 2005
Running Time: 104 minutes
Sales Rank: 8938
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: September 29, 1991
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Editorial Review:
Description:
River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in director Gus Van Sant’s haunting tale of two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams of the mother who abandoned him, and Scott Favor, wayward son of the mayor of Portland and the object of Mike’s desire. Navigating a volatile world of junkies, thieves, and johns, Mike takes Scott on a quest from the grungy streets to the open highways of the Pacific Northwest, in search of an elusive place called 'home.' Groundbreaking and visually dazzling, My Own Private Idaho is a stirring look at unrequited love and life at society’s margins.
Amazon.com:
Mapping the spaces between fortune and degeneracy, Shakespeare and street cant, Europe and the Pacific Northwest, and gay and straight, My Own Private Idaho is the 1991 masterpiece by director Gus Van Sant. River Phoenix gave the most generous and memory-searing performance of his tragically shortened career as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic street hustler in search of his mother. His best friend, Scott, played by Keanu Reeves, is a son of privilege who fosters plans of rejoining the moneyed world of his father after gallivanting with assorted urchins and ne'er-do-wells. The beautifully symmetrical story that emerges between the two is one of friendship, yearning for lost time, and sexual identity conveyed with a poet's eye for landscape. The camera lingers on abandoned houses in golden fields and time-lapse clouds, providing what T.S. Eliot called 'the objective correlative'--external representations of interior emotional states. We're treated to striking iconic sequences like a barn falling from the sky and still-life scenes of carnal entanglement. The supporting cast is a rogues' gallery that includes Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Udo Kier, director William Richert, and a variety of 'nonactors' pulled literally off the street to provide documentary veracity to a film that gleefully careens into riffs on Henry IV. It's beautiful.
What's also beautiful is the Criterion Collection's treatment of the film's DVD debut. The director-approved transfer successfully conveys the warmth of the film's palette of oranges and browns, and preserves the whimsical atmospherics of the yodeling country music soundtrack. Many members of the original crew contribute their fond memories to the documentary features, which include a conversation between Phoenix's sister Rain and producer Laurie Parker. There are also two lengthy audio-only conversations--one between Van Sant and Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes, and another between author J.T. Leroy and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette about their experiences on the street. The deleted scenes mostly suggest alternate endings that Van Sant wisely left on the cutting room floor. A superb example of a beloved film on DVD. --Ryan Boudinot
Stills from My Own Private Idaho (click for larger image)
 The Cast |  River Phoenix |  Keanu Reeves |
 Keanu and River |  Udo Kier |  Gus Van Sant |
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- River & Keanu make a great team - a classic!I'm a major River Phoenix fan. He was the finest actor of my generation - simple as that. He had that ... Read More
Rating:
- charlotte lmpThis was an independent movie which was visually beautiful but a bit hard for me to understand. It was ... Read More
Rating:
- A Movie Like No Other That I Never Tire of WatchingI had bought the original version of "My Own Private Idaho" on VHS a number of years ago. (It was probably ... Read More
Rating:
- Keanu and River's Excellent AdventureI used to be a film critic for KALX in Berkeley, and I interviewed Gus Van Sant for his movie, Mala Noche. ... Read More
Rating:
- Discovering America - One State at a Time What a stunning film.
Lush greenery and slow drives across rural America collide with the gritty ... Read More
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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.