MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO: Keanu Week at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

Gus Van Sant, 1991, USA, 1h44m, English with English subtitles

Released in the same remarkable year as Point Break, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO revealed a completely different side of Keanu Reeves. Gus Van Sant's lyrical road movie paired Reeves with River Phoenix in one of the defining American independent films of the 1990s, creating a work that is as tender, funny and heartbreaking today as it was on its release.

Phoenix plays Mike Waters, a young street hustler living with narcolepsy, who sets out in search of the mother who abandoned him as a child. Alongside him is Scott Favor, played by Reeves, the rebellious son of a wealthy mayor who drifts through Portland's underground by choice rather than necessity. As the two travel from the Pacific Northwest to Idaho and on to Italy, their friendship deepens, revealing two young men searching for identity, belonging and a place to call home.

Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare's Henry IV plays while remaining rooted in contemporary America, Van Sant moves effortlessly between realism and dreamlike fantasy. The result is a film unlike anything else in American cinema, one that captures both the freedom and the loneliness of life on society's margins with extraordinary compassion.

Although River Phoenix deservedly received widespread acclaim, Reeves' performance has been increasingly recognised as one of the strongest of his early career. Scott's gradual transformation from carefree outsider to reluctant heir is handled with remarkable subtlety, revealing an emotional maturity that pointed towards the range Reeves would continue to develop throughout the decades that followed.

More than thirty years later, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO remains a landmark of queer cinema and American independent filmmaking. Beautifully photographed, quietly radical and deeply human, it stands as one of the essential films of both Reeves' career and the New Queer Cinema movement that reshaped independent film in the early 1990s.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1