Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19014 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-27
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Two young boys, one a down-and-out, the other from a respectable family, live on the streets, trying to come to terms with their past.

Customer Reviews

What a film!!
what can i say, this is a fantastic flim. the only real problem with this film is the plot...there isn't one really....but it does plod along smoothly and Phoenix and Reeves do a spiffing job. i think this is Phoenixs best role, he is very believeable and he should recive more credit for this film. in fact the film hasn't recived much credit at all and i really dont know why, its beautifully shot and gives realistic feel of the cold dreary lives of these poor hustlers. very moving.
the films about narcoleptic Mike (Pheonix), a hustler in search of his mother. Scott (Reeves) is also a hustler, but with one difference, he has a huge amount of cash waiting for him on his 21st birthday. Scott tags along with Mike to find his mother. as they travel, they try to come to terms with reality, sexuality and their desperate need to belong. one is bound to be hurt as the other drifts away into luxuary leaving his past behind.
i have waited YEARS for this film to be realsed on dvd and so glad it finally has. it certainly makes an impact and i really recommened to ANYONE who is a fan of Gus Van Sants work or Phoenixs beautiful acting talent which was tragically cut short

A surreal character study
This film is a surreal character study, following the misfit lives of a small group of 20 something rent boys. It's a strange sort of film. I have never seen anything else quite like this. The best way to give you a better impression of what I mean is to say that it shares some parallels with Oliver Twist, if the Oliver character was older and gay, if his workhouse was really a brothel where he squatted illegally and where Fabien is really his pimp.

I first saw this film when I was far too young to understand what any of it was about. But, somehow, it made a big impression on me. So, I looked this film up not so long ago to check it out and to see if it left me with the same feelings as it did before.
I found it kind of sad, it's strange, because I find it heart warming and yet some how heart breaking. Sweet yet bitter!

We see the late River Phoenix playing the Oliver typed role, led by his very own Artful Dodger in the form of a young Keanu Reeves.
I was originally touched by the close friendship that they seemed to share. It seemed one of a real love that transcends sexual attraction.
There is some one-sided attraction going on in there; which the other is well aware of and doesn't mind, and I think that's what originally touched me. The concept of a straight guy being friends with a gay guy that is in love with him and it being a non-issue: A true friendship.
Watching this film again however I have a completely different take on it.
Now, it looks to me as if the whole friendship was just as one sided as the sexual attraction and that makes this film even more sad for me.

The only real plot is that one character is in search for his mother while the other tags along to hide from his father.

Even though this film is not for most people I still think that it is well worth a look. It has a bit of every movie genre in there: Road Trip, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Living happily ever after, and those ones that don't really end; the ones where you're faced with the cruel fact of life where not every story has a happy ending.

Not one you'll be sitting on the fence over!
Definitely one of those films you either love or hate; it's a surrealist and uncomfortably explicit road movie about rent boys who have Shakespearean pretensions! Those who like their films straight (in both senses of the word) will probably hate every minute, but saying that it does share a sense of humour with "Withnail and I" and that's loved by pretty much everyone, so who knows. The locations and photography are beautiful, music brilliant, characters larger than life and the script (based on Henry IV) full of wit and tragedy. However, one thing outshines the film itself and stays with you long after the final credits...River Phoenix. He died three years later and so, like James Dean (who he resembles here), is frozen forever in full narcoleptic, übercool glory. It's Phoenix's film and he is absolutely superb and should have been considered for an Oscar - in that same year Warren Beatty was nominated for Bugsy. Tragic.