So, About My Own Private Idaho,
Well, what can be said about this film that hasn't been said already. Honestly, for most of the runtime I didn't quite get it, but as the final scene began to roll it dawned on me, like a sunrise piercing through an unclear dream: the search for the mother is really a search for belonging, a search for love. They never quite find it, they always just miss it, because they're always looking in the wrong place. This is why the search ends in Italy, because Scotty believes he's found where he belongs in the arms of his Italian girlfriend. But this ultimately separates him from where he really belongs, with Mike. But as they reunite and drive off once again, it shows that, though neither really found what they were looking for, they'll keep on searching and maybe one day find it, together.
This film is beautiful, profound, and far weirder than I imagined in a wide variety of ways. Through the simple lense of the wanderings of some lonely sex workers, it shows the world in all it's dirt and beauty, and explores that deep emptiness, that search for something or someone greater, that we've all felt at some time or another. All else, the writing, editing, lighting, all those minutiae from which I normally draw nitpicks, are inconsequential when that is seen.
I will admit, I have been slacking in my reviews as of late. I've got 3-5 drafts sitting in my notes app waiting for me to come in and formulate my thoughts. But this is one of the few movies that, from the moment I stepped out of the theater, I felt I immediately and deeply understood.
I can't promise you'll appreciate this film. The pacing is slow, the audio is quiet, and there are a million other inconsequential things that might wind up being the straw that breaks the camel's back for someone. But still, there is no harm done in taking a chance. So go out there, broaden your horizons. At the very least, if you don't like it, you can come back here and tell me I'm a fool.
areudirty
titsay
