My Own Private Idaho

The early 1990s Sundance/indie boom helped boost queer filmmakers like Todd Haynes, Tom Kalin, Gregg Araki, Rose Troche, Guinevere Turner and Cheryl Dunye. But the leading light in what came to be called “New Queer Cinema” was Gus Van Sant, who made his name with gritty indies like Mala Noche and Drugstore Cowboy but really took flight with the expansive and poetic My Own Private Idaho in 1991.

Mike and Scott (River Phoenix and Keanus Reeves) are young gay hustlers living on the streets of Portland. Scott is acting out his rebellion against a middle class upbringing. The dreamy, narcoleptic Mike on the other hand is obsessed with reuniting with long-gone mom — which inspires several journeys, long and short. Van Sant is at free-est and least inhibited here, at some points drawing on Shakespearean language (and Welles’ Chimes at Midnight), and avant-garde aesthetics to transport us into Mike’s world. Sadly River Phoenix (Joaquin’s brother) died from a drug overdose in 1993, but this movie stands as a fitting tribute to his luminous talent.

An exquisite cinematic poem… about the eternal need to belong somewhere, and the lonely landscape of the soul.

Desson Howe, The Washington Post

A simultaneously heartbreaking and exhilarating road movie.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Media Partner