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PORTLAND PICK:
Teens Harper (Anjini Taneja Azhar) and Tilly (Quinn Liebling) fall in love in Young Hearts, a drama directed by siblings Sarah and Zachary Ray Sherman (who filmed at multiple Portland locations, including Franklin High School). In 2020, WW’s Chance Solem-Pfeifer described the depiction of Harper and Tilly’s relationship “incredibly normalized and non-exploitative by any Hollywood standard.” HBO Max.
INDIE PICK:
For the first time in half a decade, Darren Aronofsky has a new movie coming out. While we wait for The Whale, which stars Brendan Fraser, to storm awards season, revisit Black Swan (2010), Aronofsky’s biggest commercial hit—and rejoice that we live in a world where a ballerina (Natalie Portman) rolling on ecstasy and having sex with Sebastian Stan and Mila Kunis in same night can be considered “commercial.” Amazon Prime.
HOLLYWOOD PICK:
It’s been nearly 10 years since Sandra Bullock introduced the phrase “twisty bobcat pretzel” to America’s erotic imagination in Two Weeks Notice. She’s never met a factory-model romantic comedy she couldn’t inject with thrillingly weird humanity—and Notice, in which she plays a frazzled environmental lawyer working for a foppish corporate titan (Hugh Grant), is one of her best. HBO Max.
INTERNATIONAL PICK:
Remember the time Jackie Chan slid down a light bulb-covered pole in the middle of a shopping-mall showdown? That fabulously freaky stunt is just one of many in the Hong Kong action comedy Police Story (1985), which Chan also directed. Other highlights include an epic misunderstanding involving a cactus and the comically tortured romance between Chan’s character and his girlfriend (Maggie Cheung). HBO Max.