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PORTLAND PICK:
From the Portland Aerial Tram to the St. Johns Bridge, PDX landmarks adorn Leave No Trace, Debra Granik’s 2018 adaptation of My Abandonment, a novel by Peter Rock (a professor in Reed College’s English department). But the best reasons to see the film are Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie, who play a father and daughter journeying ever deeper into the wilderness and their own souls. Hulu.
INDIE PICK:
Oh, to have been at Cannes last week when James Gray’s cinematic memoir Armageddon Time got a minuteslong standing ovation. Still, you don’t need to be on the Croisette to bask in his brilliance since his glorious 2008 romance Two Lovers is streaming. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a bereaved Brooklynite torn between two very different women, played by Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. HBO Max.
HOLLYWOOD PICK:
Ten years ago, Andrew Stanton’s John Carter was declared an Ishtar-level box-office catastrophe. Today, the film’s ticket sales seem trivial compared to its sweeping desert battles (shot by Star Wars cinematographer Dan Mindel) and the sexy, soulful romance between a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) teleported to Mars and the renegade princess (Lynn Collins) who asks for his aid. Disney+.
INTERNATIONAL PICK:
In 2019, Italian director Pietro Marcello took Jack London’s novel Martin Eden and transformed it into arguably one of the most European films ever made. The strapping Luca Marinelli stars as Martin, an impoverished striver whose hunger to become a renowned writer propels him on an epic and erotic quest for greatness. Mubi, Roku, Showtime.