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My Own Private Idaho
REEVES AND PHOENIX IN GUS VAN SANT’S ODE TO SHAKESPEARE AND QUEER LIMERENCE
“I love you, and you don’t pay me.”
Queer longing is an expansive, meandering, and maddening thing. It’s often difficult to pinpoint the beginning of a crush or why exactly a desire erupts from a space where nothing existed before. Sometimes it’s as simple as “you make this all feel a little less bad,” and we can call that love or infatuation, but any label doesn’t make the feeling any less real. In Gus Van Sant’s third film, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, the writer/director combines multiple scripts, a short story, and a handful of source materials into a kaleidoscopic exploration of queerness, youth, and loneliness. Narcoleptic sex worker Mike Waters (River Phoenix) spends his days hustling in the Pacific Northwest with his closest friend, Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves). Mike nurses a destabilizing affection for Scott and a difficult relationship with his father (James Russo). At the same time, Scott attempts to reject his privileged background in favor of slumming with street hustlers and their eccentric mentor, Pigeon Bob (William Richert). When an opportunity arises to locate Mike’s estranged mother, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery with Scott across the United States and Europe. Non-linear, variegated, and heartfelt, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO is the transitional intersection of Van Sant’s arthouse stylistic roots and his future commercial successes with TO DIE FOR and GOOD WILL HUNTING. Filled to the brim with dreamy queer disillusionment and featuring iconic performances from the late River Phoenix and everyone’s favorite hunk Keanu Reeves, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO is the perfect film to launch the 2026 season of Queer Film Theory 101.
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Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3432993-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3432993-2
