‘They were sort of profoundly beautiful’: Gus Van Sant on 30 years of My Own Private Idaho

[heart_iswild]

Comments

[heart_iswild]

i've never seen CMBYN in it's entirety but i'm not sure how anyone could watch it now after everything that came out about Armie. was the movie itself bad?

[skeetertuskin]

was the movie itself bad?

Yes. Armond White's review in Out magazine perfectly summed up how I felt after seeing it: "super-bourgeois fantasy that exploits the queer audience's romantic needs by packaging them and falsifying them."

[heart_iswild]

oy! glad i never wasted my time on that nonsense!

[skeetertuskin]

never mind that the movie glorifies sexual grooming and predation. elio is portrayed as a boy who acts like a brat and cuddles with his parents while oliver is very much portrayed as a man who looks much older than 24 (armie was 31 at the time). the power disparity is clear and what makes it even worse is that elio's parents are fully aware of what's going on and they even encourage elio to take a trip with oliver alone. i nearly threw the remote at my tv when elio's dad opens up to elio about having experienced similar relationship in his youth 🤢

[heart_iswild]

LAWD. how do people even compare a film like that to a film like MOPI? sounds disgusting! i do see the comparisons all the time though :-/

[skeetertuskin]

i'm glad that the tide had turned and people have started to see CMBYN for what it really is but it really took armie's indiscretions for people to start re-evaluating it. ontd in particular was so defensive about this film when it came out.

[heart_iswild]

i think it's interesting that my friends who loved CMBYN cited how "innocent" the love was between the characters. you say they're just bougie fantasies and that the actual premise is pretty perverse and yet people viewed it as some great queer innocent love. meanwhile MOPI is about gay street hustlers-the opposite of innocence- and yet the love mike felt for scott was pure and innocent as could be.

[skeetertuskin]

the film was cleverly packaged as a travelogue with beautifully sceneries to substitute the lack of substantial dialogue so i can see how the viewers could have been duped into believing it to be a romantic coming of age queer story. if i remember correctly there's even one scene where they are drinking in the streets at night. oliver being the adult manages his alcohol tolerance while elio gets inebriated to the point of throwing up, after which oliver kisses him with implication that they have sex afterwards. i mean how anyone could overlook the question of consent in this particular scene is beyond me.

[jennanne801]

When I was reading your reply I started thinking, "damn - there's another movie people think was a love story for the ages but was actually quite gross - what was it?"

Oh yeah, PRETTY WOMAN. What a disgusting premise for a romantic comedy.

I can't comment on CMBYN since I never saw it (which now seems like a blessing). Seeing the photos of Armie and Timothee side by side....the age difference creeped me out too much.

[sjazzmreow]

The movies shouldn't be compared, but Timothee did a nice job, which is what the quote above was pointing to. It's just a shame his costar and the movie itself was so gross.

[aleksie]

Yeah... Besides Armie's own fucked up behavior, the story is fucked up too.

[skeetertuskin]

i mean it's coincidental that they cast him in this role, but in the light of accusations it's really hard to separate the two.

[pikapika217]

I feel like it's also VERY important to mention that the author admitted to 'already' finding 12 year old girls 'attractive' -

[heart_iswild]

EW. thanks for posting that....not that i was interested in the movie anyway but i'll be sure to never watch it. gross.

[sjazzmreow]

ugh, vomit.

Also, the book is unreadable so he can drop this pretentiousness.