My Own Private Idaho

Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.


The beauty of this film lies in its simplicity. That's not to say that there's not much going on, rather that it doesn't hold back. My Own Private Idaho is an open, honest picture that contains little in the way of subtext and it's this that makes it feel so raw and immediate.

The world is populated by a cast of increasingly colourful characters, each seemingly more bereft of a desire to fit in with society than the last. The film holds a consistent focus on the seedier side of city life with both drugs and prostitution having huge parts to play in shaping the lives and decisions of the protagonists, the most interesting of whom is River Phoenix's Mike.

Mike is a troubled man. Whilst he is in no way gullible, he is undeniably vulnerable. His constant pining for the estranged mother that left him behind frequently serves as a trigger for his debilitating narcolepsy. As an aside, narcolepsy as a non-comedic trait is unique in my personal experience of cinema and it adds a real sense of individuality to the journey that Mike takes over the course of the film. The snippets of dreams and memories that visit him as he is incapacitated have an achingly wistful feel to them, a heavy air of bittersweet nostalgia hanging over each recollection and fantasy.

In addition to the characters themselves, the production is also stark in its absence of complication. Intertitles are presented with bright, single-coloured backgrounds. They mark clear breaks in the advance of the plot, at the same time adding to the arty feel of some segments of the film. There is never any room for misinterpretation and it's always clear where we find ourselves, or that we are moving on to a new chapter as the story continues to unfold. This artiness is also very pronounced in the love scenes, with each encounter being dealt with through a series of stills, though not in the traditional sense. Rather than use photographs, each frame is posed in what is clearly real time, as it's sometimes obvious the actors are having great difficulty staying in the more challenging positions. I can only assume this was a stylistic choice and it definitely enhances the already 'rough and ready' feel of the flick.

River Phoenix is still sorely missed and his performance here is one of many reasons why. Reeves is not a complete lost cause either, his natural, detached demeanour working well with the role that he plays. Both bring a great deal to a film that comes across as very personal and gives deep insights into the predicaments of those involved, as well as life in general.

The Verdict:

7/10
A raw, yet insightful flick that draws much of its vitality from being both deliberately upfront and rough around the edges in equal measure.