Whenever director Gus Van Sant ventures into mainstream filmmaking his works get noticed. His most recent film, Milk, was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Director and Picture. His 1997 film, Good Will Hunting, garnered similar attention from the Academy. His remake of Psycho received a considerably different response, but that shouldn’t be held against him. Despite the accolades (and insults) inspired by the previously mentioned films, it is Van Sant’s independent work that deserves the most discussion and enthusiasm. His 1991 film My Own Private Idaho is a compelling and original part of Van Sant’s diverse filmography.
Idaho follows Mike (River Phoenix), a narcoleptic hustler, and his friend, Scott (Keanu Reeves) — the wayward son of the mayor of Portland — who also turns the occasional trick though he stands to inherit a great deal of money from his wealthy father. One day the pair sets off to find Mike’s mother, who deserted him at an early age. Their travels take them across the western U.S. and Italy, where Mike and Scott encounter a host of idiosyncratic friends and “temporary employers,” including their colorful mentor, Bob Pigeon (William Richert). Throughout the film Mike struggles with his unrequited love for Scott, Scott comes to terms with the fate his father has laid out for him and both young men endure loss.
The film is a combination of an original story by Van Sant and a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 about Scott (Prince Hal), Bob (Falstaff) and Scott’s father (King Henry IV). Some episodes within Idaho do stand out as particularly Shakespearean, but the film remains a cohesive whole.
Idaho strikes a balance between surreal comedy and melodrama. As befits a film in which the protagonist suffers from a sleep disorder, much of Idaho seems to take place in a dream world of Mike’s imagining. Documentary and home video style footage is inter-cut with the main action, the main characters have a conversation from their places on the covers of nudie magazines and the gang of hustlers commits a robbery in a scene straight out of Chimes at Midnight. Scenes of a heavier nature are interspersed with those that are strangely comical. Mike never achieves any of his goals. He makes a disturbing discovery about his family but his mother’s location remains a mystery. Scott doesn’t just reject Mike romantically, he marries an Italian girl and abandons Mike in Europe. Mike ends where he began — standing alone on a highway in the middle of nowhere.
Idaho isn’t just exceptional for its fantastic story, but for its performances as well. Before his untimely death in 1993, River Phoenix was considered one of the most sought-after and talented young actors in Hollywood. His performance is nuanced, three-dimensional and heartfelt. Idaho is also one of the few films in which Keanu Reeves doesn’t, well, suck. Just as in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and The Matrix films, Reeve’s unique oddness and relatively monotone delivery suit Scott perfectly. Scott is pretending to be a dangerous street dweller, just as Reeves is pretending to be a serious actor. It works.
My Own Private Idaho is a truly original and entertaining film. Since its release, Gus Van Sant has gone on to make ten more feature films, some better, some much, much worse, but none of them are quite like Idaho.
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