35th Anniversary Screening

Screening times:
Thursday, March 26, 6:30 PM

Gus Van Sant | USA | 1991 | 102m

DaPoPo Theatre combines elements of political and popular theatre, inspired by the work of – among others – Bertolt Brecht, Augusto Boal, and Jerzy Grotowski, with an open door policy and international reach. DaPoPo embraces queer themes, characters, stories, and artists, reflecting our core members’ convictions and lived experience. DaPoPo website: https://www.dapopotheatre.com/

An essential film of the New Queer Cinema movement, My Own Private Idaho restages Shakespeare’s Henry IV through the relationship between two young street hustlers in the Pacific Northwest.

Narcoleptic Mike (River Phoenix) dreams of his mother who abandoned him and pines for his best friend Scott (Keanu Reeves), who is biding his time hustling until he comes into a major inheritance. Desperate to reunite with his mother, Mike takes Scott on a journey to find her leading to a closeness that ignites Mike’s long-simmering romantic feelings for Scott.

Gus Van Sant’s influential third feature is a picturesque and melancholic portrait of Gen X desire.

"Emerging as two of the most celebrated and idiosyncratic actors of the 90s, Reeves and Phoenix's gave performances in My Own Private Idaho – at the zenith of their heartthrob status – that allowed an impressive emancipation from the narrow scope of the leading man. Registering as a reverential artefact in their filmographies, My Own Private Idaho took its stars to places where Hollywood wouldn't take its heartthrobs: to political and artistic expression with drug-dazed homosexual hustlers." - Emily Maskell, BBC

Winner: Best Screenplay, Best Male Lead (River Phoenix), Best Film Music - Independent Spirit Awards, 1992
Winner: Volpi Cup for Best Actor (River Phoenix) - Venice Film Festival, 1991
Winner: Best Actor (River Phoenix) - National Society of Film Critics Awards, 1991

Tickets $12.65 ($12 at the door if available)