MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
102 min., R, Drama, 1991 Director: Gus Van Sant Cast: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo, William Richert, Rodney Harvey, Michael Parker, Flea, Chiara Saselli, Udo Kier
River Phoenix is a narcoleptic (a disorder in the brain that causes the person to go into a temporary coma-like state at times) street hustler. River Phoenix decides to try to find his mother, who he hasn't seen for years. He goes on the journey with his friend Keanu Reeves, who is the son of the mayor. Along the way the two have a problem trying to locate River Phoenix's mother because she moved around a lot. Also along the way they are followed, it seems, by gay Udo Kier.
I saw MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO several weeks ago and am just getting around to writing my review on it. I have found out that it is coming to video around April 22 and would like to discourage people from wasting their money renting this film. I found both the story and the acting to be pitiful. By the end I hated River Phoenix's character and hoped that he never met his mother just because I wasted my time sitting though the film. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO is rated R for explicit language, adult situations, and female nudity. On a scale of zero to five, I give MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO a one.
The only redeeming quality that this film has, and the only reason this film even received a one, is the cinematography -- especially the Idaho sequences. Those I found to be impressive to watch, but, unfortunately that wonderfulness will be lost on a small screen. So, if you must watch this film, which I highly don't recommend, then watch it in a theater, but in a relatively cheap theater so you don't waste too much of your money. The acting, I found, in this film was crude. It looked like the actors called in the performances instead of really being there. I felt no sympathy for any of the people in the film, not a bit.
Ken J. blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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