New on DVD this week: Gus Van Sant's <I>My Own Private Idaho</i> (15340)

New in video stores this weekend is the deluxe two-disc Criterion Collection edition of the New Queer Cinema classic My Own Private Idaho. The film stars Keanu Reeves and the late River Phoenix in a haunting and wistful tale of two gay hustlers that plays like a mix of John Rechy and Shakespeare. The new DVD set includes a restored digital transfer; an interview with Van Sant conducted by writer-director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Safe); a making-of documentary; a conversation about the film with writer J.T. LeRoy and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation); a 64-page booklet featuring essays by LeRoy and Amy Taubin; and a 1991 article by Lance Loud as well as reprinted interviews with Van Sant, Phoenix, and Reeves.