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| My Own Private Idaho |
"If I had a normal family and a good upbringing then I would have been a well adjusted person", Mike (River Phoenix) plaintively tells Scott (Keanu Reeves) in a rare exchange of awkwardly articulated truths between the two street hustlers.
Scott is the son of Portland's mayor whose
Midnight Cowboy 'phase' is no more than a calculated rebellion before taking up the mantle of social prestige he assumes as his birthright.
Mike's path is less clear; a sensitive narcoleptic nursing a deep sense of maternal abandonment, Mike's 'fortunes' rely far more precariously on the kindness - or otherwise - of all too random strangers.
"An essential testament to the beauty and [acting] chops of the late River Phoenix"
Rolling Stone
