did anybody notice the refrences to my own private idaho
a very familiar road
Keanu Reeves being dragged in a mock River Phoenix style
the shots through are similar with the hole in the grilled cheese and the *beep* up face
The countess has an asian assistant who is dressed in a dutch sailor suit kinda of like Rover Phoenis with that crazy guy
i love michael pitt, he's a *beep* hottie
shareIt was actually the same road that River Phoenix woke up on in MOPI and it is also very near the log cabin in which he was born in Oregon. The film was pretty similar in lots of ways but not as confusing. It had lots of drug references and homosexual love/sex. It was really weird though. I'd say Gus Van Sant has a very distinctive style.
shareI am wondering if anyone has read this book, as well as seen the movie? I loved the book, and wondering if this film has done it justice
shareWell in my opinion, not having read the book Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a film does not need do justice to a book, it must convey its own message in a different way, and be judged by its own merits. This one was a topper for me.
Being a Tolkien addict who read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion several times, when going to see the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, I had to make a conscious decision to try and separate my fascination and experience of the books from those of the films I was about to see. This was difficult and frankly, I battled with myself some of the time because of discrepancies and different focusings. But I did learn to enjoy both, the original books and the films, although they in many aspects diverge or contradict each other.
I really enjoyed this film. I see a great balance in Gus, who avoids at all costs to impose on us a final solution or explanation, but leaves it up to us to think. We are used to having all explained to us, we crave for comforting explanations. Our society, churches, medics, governments, all seem to know what it's all about - how to praise, condemn or explain. I'd rather see the facts and think for myself. The few films I've seen from Gus VS (Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy, Gerry, Last Days and this one) convey to me a similar message: don't accept regurgitated solutions, however official they may be, think for yourself and learn to suspend judgement on what you can't understand.