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Also showing this week: Portland’s 10th EcoFilm Festival, Bollywood’s “RRR,” and the classic glories of Technicolor.
A pair of movies about women of low and high birth responding to repression; German and Japanese cinema at the Clinton; a flock of revivals: Welcome to 2023.
The women of the hit TV show “Grimm” team up again to tell behind-the-scenes stories, interview special guests and share their love of Portland in their podcast, “The Grimmcast.”
From the glories of Movie Madness to a flock of festivals to the tale of Will Vinton’s lost dreams, it was a very good film year in Oregon.
Marc Mohan picks his best movies of the year. To find out which ones make the list – and which is No. 1 – read on.
Using paper, cloth, and found materials, film director Luca DiPierro brings a beautifully haunting world of folklore and magic to life in “The Cadence.”
In “EO,” six donkeys in search of an auteur find the right one; “Babylon” discovers that Hollywood’s a den of iniquity.
On beyond “Avatar”: a pair of audacious debuts from Filipina and Danish/Iranian directors; big swings in a fat suit; and, yes, those otherworldly special effects.
A stellar adaptation of an “unfilmable” Dom Delillo novel leads a bonanza of big-screen openings, including a gay love story and a documentary on Nan Goldin’s war on OxyContin.
On beyond vengeful Santas: “Nanny” and “The Inspection” tell potent human tales, “Chatterley” is a handsome version of the novel, “Fawn” goes ancient Greek on the thriller format.
“Bones and All” revels in the sins of the flesh; Spielberg looks at anti-Semitism in America; Portlander Mark Gustafson co-directs “Pinocchio.”
A conversation with the Portland-educated experimental filmmaker and newly minted MacArthur “Genius Grant” honoree.
Shades of Fellini: “Bardo” is decadent, indulgent, and well worth the ride; “The Menu” gleefully roasts the rich and clueless.
Portland documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom (“Alien Boy,” “Finding Normal”) and co-director Andy Brown discuss their new film about the life and sorrows of ’70s singer Judee Sill.
Without the late Chadwick Boseman, a quintet of fierce females leads the Marvel franchise into vivid new territory.
The festivals at the Hollywood Theatre and Cinema 21 provide a rainbow of stories about LGBTQ+ life.
Portland filmmaker Anthony Orkin’s “Hello from Nowhere” blends romantic mixups and Gilbert & Sullivan on a Mount Hood camping trip.
An intriguing but not-too-dangerous apocalyptic tale, a saga of art behind bars, adventures on Mars, Lawrence returning to her indie roots, and one heaven of a sex scandal.
Portland director Dawn Jones Redstone’s debut feature film tells the tale of a woman balancing community activism and raising children.
The 1992 movie raised the stakes on horror films by casting a Black man as the villain and, like 1999’s Japanese “Audition,” giving a glimpse of the future.
With “Banshees,” the “In Bruges” team creates another winner; “Jane” brings pre-Roe issues to post-Roe times; Oregon-made animation; unflinching “Western Front”; trouble for trailer parks.
A television host called The Bowman Body opened the creaking lid to an overflowing casket of horror films – and a fascinated boy discovered a lifelong passion.
Blanchett does a star turn as a tough musical maestro in former Portlander Todd Field’s newest film, and Portland trio YACHT gets a documentary.
Jack Pierce and the invention of a Hollywood horror classic, the makeup and design of Frankenstein’s monster. Happy Halloween.
Nyback, who has died at 69, toured his collections of old films internationally and once owned the Clinton Street Theatre.
A CIA-tinged tale of danger and lust; Lebanon’s first all-female thrash metal band; a festival of 400-plus films, from Buffalo Soldiers to Storm Large.
This year’s collection of 29 films features striking portraits of humanity from across the globe.
A historical comic puzzle in a conundrum in an eccentric Christian Bale; a smart tense mystery; festivals from Lovecraft to the mountains.
“The First Step” looks at how daring to bargain across the aisle in polarized times got a criminal reform bill passed.
The showcase reels ’em in: About 100 regional, national, and international films from 1,600 submissions, available both in-person and virtually.
A charming gay romantic comedy tops the week; Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline team up smartly again.
Marilyn Monroe and David Bowie get unconventional biopics that are catnip for their fans; five Saturdays of Bogart; “Mighty Victoria” kick-starts Latin American film fest.
File this one under “to see”: Director J. Rick Castañeda and Portland-based composer Nick Jaina talk with Marc Mohan about their new film comedy.
A rigorous and revealing three-hour look at what’s made the movies the movies; the story of an irascible insider who helped shape a golden cinematic age.
The French director, who never stopped reinventing forms and challenging beliefs, changed the face of cinema, Marc Mohan writes.
A contemporary riff on Fassbinder, the private life of a classic suspense writer, and a host of good revivals: It’s a movie week for looking back.
Singer/actor Susannah Mars and friends are creating a film that explores grief, loss, love, and the connections they forge.
With “Colors,” a rare chance to revisit three highlights of 20th century cinema (and wonder where the magic’s gone).
The live-theater company, which adapted to film when the pandemic hit, liked what happened and returns with a fresh quartet of topical films.
Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton play the genie-in-a-bottle game in George Miller’s newest; a documentary reveals a battle between cultures in the Amazon rainforest.
Hopes for revival after a beloved neighborhood movie house burns; a crime movie pays off; small gems to stream from student filmmakers.
The Portland Claymation studio founder and Oscar winner had big dreams – and lost them in a legal battle with the Knights.
A tale of a 32-year-old “teenager”; a dad who goes way, way too far; the Criterion Channel’s exquisitely timed look at a chapter in Hollywood’s spotty racial history.
“A safe place inside a dangerous place”: A dozen years in the making, and three after its director’s death, a rare collaboration with inmate actors comes to the screen.
Two brothers with different mothers. One mother who disappears. A quest to find her again, and a family tale 25 years in the making.
A feature documentary on a famous song opens a window on genius and packs an emotional punch.
The director of “the biggest documentary sensation of the summer” tells the volcanic tale of creating a film about fire and ice.
Jordan Peele’s “Nope” is a thrilling summer blockbuster, even if it doesn’t quite fit together; why are good bets skipping Portland’s indie houses?
An Oregon writer and director’s pandemic-delayed feature makes its debut at Portland’s Hollywood Theatre.
A radiant Juliette Binoche adrift in a simplistic story; a fierce and rhythmic and promising debut tale of magical realism; an insane visual spectacle in search of a story.
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