Gus Van Sant's 1991 drama film is a landmark in what B. Ruby Rich has dubbed 'The New Queer Cinema' - a movement of LGBT-themed independent films that arose in the late 1980s and early '90s. My Own Private Idaho follows two characters played by River Phoenix and a young Keanu Reeves on a personal journey that takes them first to Idaho and then to Italy on a search for Mike's (Pheonix) mother. The film is brave and unsentimental when it comes to its subject matter and was roundly praised for the performance's of the main actors. The film inspired the next wave of queer films and filmmakers.
