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PORTLAND PICK:
Culled from 80 hours of interviews and cellphone videos, Portland-raised filmmaker Sandra Luckow’s documentary That Way Madness Lies… shows how her brother Duanne’s life splintered after he developed late-onset paranoid schizophrenia. In 2017, Walker MacMurdo praised the film in WW, writing, “Luckow argues that mentally ill people are failed by a legal system that treats them as rational actors even when their behavior is plainly irrational and self-destructive.” OPB Passport.
INDIE PICK:
While we wait to see if the 210-minute cut of Ari Aster’s Joaquin Phoenix musical Disappointment Blvd. sees the light of day, revisit Midsommar, his 2019 horror film about a grieving American (Florence Pugh) finding solace in a Swedish pagan cult. Is the film a literal-minded meditation on the joy of watching your cheating boyfriend burned alive? Or a clever metaphor for finding closure? Either way, you’ll be transfixed, especially when you don’t want to be. Showtime.
HOLLYWOOD PICK:
With all due respect to Casino Royale and Mission: Impossible–Fallout, Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity is the best spy thriller of the 21st century. Despite being released 20 years ago this month, the film feels ageless—big-budget cinema still doesn’t get much better than the Mini Cooper-versus-motorcycles chase through Paris and the sweet, smoldering chemistry between Matt Daman and German star Franka Potente (Run Lola Run). HBO Max.
FUCK-THE-SUPREME-COURT PICK:
Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child (2014) is one of the wisest films ever made about the right to choose—and also a tender and uproarious romantic comedy. Jenny Slate stars as Donna Stern, a standup comedian seeking an abortion, and Jake Lacy plays Max, her unfailingly kind potential paramour. Showtime.