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HAPPY ENDING
Portland-style non-monogamy is as much the setting of the horror-comedy Happy Ending as the Rose City itself. Directed by Jennifer Wolfe, Happy Ending tells the story of getting more than you bargain for from a seedy downtown massage parlor and the separation between fantasy and reality. Sexually frustrated couple Brynne (Lex Helgerson) and Ezra (Bradford Downs) open up their relationship with a “happy ending” couple’s massage. While they argue and make up in the lobby, the staff have (pardon the pun) bigger problems on their hands. Walker, a former customer (Bobby Trovato) harasses Joy (Ling Ling Huang), but her more levelheaded coworker Dasha (Chynna Rae Shurts) has an honest and heartfelt conversation with her about their job’s struggles, offering a calming presence amid Joy’s interactions with him. Wolfe and co-writer Corey Moss craft an interesting story mixed with dark humor and suspense, especially when Joy and Dasha’s disgruntled coworker Viktoria (Zoe Rose Curzi) takes matters (literally) into her own hands as she entertains Walker. Viewers get an exciting and bloody third act that will leave them wondering who makes it out alive. Happy Ending could be a paint-by-numbers tale of exploring sexual desires but elevates itself (pun intended) with a twist-filled night on the town. NR. RUDY VALDEZ. Amazon Prime Video starting June 27.
28 YEARS LATER
28 Years Later, the 28 Days Later franchise’s belated third entry, shows the softer side of the postapocalyptic world, weaving in themes of life and death in a complex family structure. But if you have an aversion to huge swinging zombie genitalia, you might want to pass. Spike (Alfie Williams) and his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) prepare for Spike’s first voyage to mainland Britain, which has been quarantined since the virus spread. On the mainland, we catch a glimpse of free-swinging bloated zombie dicks. The world-building presence shows the evolution of the Alphas, the infecteds’ most physically aggressive creatures that can still get outsmarted by uninfected folks. 28 Years Later tones down its predecessors’ concerns with disease and outright violence to instead build empathy for the world-weary survivors. While Days and Weeks followed a linear story of survivors getting from point A to point B, Years instead focuses on the mother-son bond’s enduring power. It’s something of a gamble, even as its ending sets the stage for more movies (28 Hours Later? 28 Fortnights Later? 28 Seconds Later?). But for its change in form from blockbuster to auteur wannabe, 28 Years Later is nevertheless entertaining and scary enough for the fraidy-cats without boring horror fans. R. JAGGER BLAEC. Academy Theater, Bagdad Theater, Cinema 21, Hollywood Theatre, Laurelhurst Theater, Living Room Theaters, St. Johns Twin Cinemas, Studio One Theaters, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
BARBARA WALTERS: TELL ME EVERYTHING
Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything drops in a world where media literacy has hit an all-time low and the legendary late anchor’s hardball interview questions pop up online as examples of how celebrities are bullied by the press. Tell Me Everything’s team had to know this perception was bubbling through social media and set the record straight without looking away from Walters’ flaws (see also: Sen. Edward Brooke, Diane Sawyer, Roy Cohn). The documentary sets up the nicotine-scented and -tinted world Walters came up in, with supporting history told by fellow journalistic titans Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric and Connie Chung as well as Bravo’s Andy Cohen and Disney CEO Bob Iger. It’s when Walters turns the mic on herself and asks herself the hard biographical questions that Tell Me Everything reveals its purpose. Walters wasn’t any more a bully surviving the chauvinistic ’70s than she was when she questioned Courtney Love’s drug use in the ’90s or the Kardashians’ media dominance during the last full decade of her life. (She cut her teeth on Egypt’s peace talks with Israel, after all.) Walters asked what we wanted to know, with more personal grace than Walter Cronkite. While I patiently wait for Tyra Banks’ journalistic redemption doc for the unhinged ’00s talk-show glory that was The Tyra Banks Show, Tell Me Everything proves that socially unconventional people are journalism’s avant-garde. TV-PG. ANDREW JANKOWSKI. Hulu.
WE ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
We Are the Most Beautiful People will make its second hotly anticipated big-screen appearance on June 22 at the Hollywood Theatre after selling out its premiere back in April. Director/editor BA Short, a local art therapist, offers a glimpse into a silenced yet powerful community of people with disabilities. More than 25 people appear on screen to share their experiences living with physical or mental impairment, or “different ability,” as author and spoken word artist Joy Elan shares in her segment. The film touches on a broad range of topics affecting the community, including physical and emotional pain, ableism and activism. Art therapist and WATMBP producer Zian Chavez not only offers insight into their experience with multiple sclerosis but also holds the mic up for many other local and international social justice warriors experiencing physical and mental disabilities, including but not limited to interviewees with cerebral palsy, blindness, neurodivergence, deafness, amputations and dyslexia. The dense content and heavy vibe is sprinkled with moments of lightness, which by no means comes off as so-called inspiration porn. Watch WATMBP if you are open to learning about a powerful community whose intersectionality spreads far and wide, but check your privileges at the door. The documentary is authentic, unrelenting and exactly the rebellious and educational content the world needs to face. Mostly made in Portland, would you expect anything less? NR. NICOLE ECKRICH. Hollywood Theatre, June 22.