LuckyGraveyardBoots Review of My Own Private Idaho

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

poetic and beautiful, if a bit too avant-garde

[7/10 · 9 May 2006]

In a very un-epic way, this movie really gets to the heart of the loneliness at the center of our being. Somebody described it as "tender but never sentimental" which I think describes it perfectly. It tells the story of two teenage hustlers at a specific period in their lives. Mike (River Phoenix) is somewhat of an enigma. He is dreamy, gentle, and in love with his best friend. He is also, unfortunately, a narcoleptic, and is obsessed with finding his long-lost mother. Scott (Keanu Reeves) is his best friend, who is a rich boy and only prostitutes himself as a way to be rebellious and humiliate his father. A plot is somewhat secondary, since the movie is about the inner lives of its two main characters (given Reeves' acting talent, more like one main character) but there are a few points I will mention...an older homeless guy named Bob is also in love with Scott, although it's more of a father/son thing. In the scenes with Bob, Shakespearian dialogue straight out of Henry IV is used - and unfortunately, the story has the same turnout: Scott (Henry) comes into his fortune and reforms himself, refusing to associate with any of his old friends, and ultimately breaking Bob's (Falstaff's) heart in two, and he dies. Kenneth Branaugh pulled Henry off pretty well, in part because Henry's motives are unselfish (good of the country) whereas Scott is only concerned with money and himself. When Scott and Mike go to Italy to try and find Mike's mom, she's long gone, but Scott falls in love with an Italian girl ("Sorry Mike!") and abandons his friend to a life of prostitution, completely alone. By the end of the movie, Scott is in a three-piece suit and Mike is fast asleep in the middle of a road in Idaho. The film does a great job portraying the unending loneliness in our souls that we attempt to break up by human relationships that never end up meaning anything. Every man is an island. It also conveys a sense of there only being the past - the future never seems to enter Mike's consciousness. Overall wonderful, although uneven and slow in parts. River Phoenix is not a great actor, but he was much better than I expected him to be. He seems like he's from another planet, but he's so sweet all the time and never seems to have any hatred in him - not even when Scott deserts him. He does a great job portraying the painful plight of the gay best friend...and the guy who played Bob was also pretty good. Not Keanu, though. Scott is supposed to undergo pretty radical character development, but Reeves just goes on AutoKeanu which really isn't too exciting to watch, all considered.