My Own Private Idaho (the title is from a song by the B-52s) comprises a series of different styles. The film has humorous and satirical moment, which refer to television and commercials, very stylised scenes and virtually documentary moments. Van Sant mixes melodrama and absurdity and assimilates both experimental influences (for instance the films of Andy Warhol) and conventional feature-film elements. Among the motley crew of characters (played by professional actors and authentic ‘(ex)-street hustlers’) are for instance a Falstaff-like beggar king (convincingly played by director William Richert) and, just when he is about to appear in the film, the theatrical aspect is exploited and the dialogues form a comic mix of ‘Shakespearean English and contemporary street jive’ (Ralph Rugoff in Première).îThe film, largely set in Portland, Oregon, tells the story of the two male prostitutes Mike and Scott, played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Mike is ‘narcoleptic’. He suffers from a kind sleeping sickness which gets him into situations which are sometimes thorny and sometimes comic and which are coupled with visions of the picturesquely filmed landscape of Idaho. Scott, who is destined to be Mike’s bosom pal, is a boy from a wealthy background who chooses a life on the seamy side as a form of protest. Mike is looking for his mother, who seems to have disappeared without trace. The quest takes Mike and Scott to Rome among other places.Gus Van Sant is at present one of the most striking independent directors in the United States. Rugoff: ‘Idaho should establish its director as America’s most independent-minded film-maker’.Gus Van Sant is at present one of the most striking independent directors in the United States. Rugoff: ‘Idaho should establish its director as America’s most independent-minded film-maker’.
