Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts I & II, this film stars Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix as two street hustlers, Scott and Mike, as they go on a journey in search of Mike’s mother, first to Idaho, and then to Italy. Confronted by the transience of their way of life, the boys’ relationship begins to fall apart as they choose different futures for themselves. By legendary director Gus Van Sant, My Own Private Idaho is considered a landmark of the New Queer Cinema movement, and is a haunting, beautiful film with which one cannot help but fall in love.
