PORTLAND LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL
All films screen at Cinema 21. Not all films were screened for critics. For more info, see Film, this issue, Movie Times, and plgff.org.

August
A gay love triangle twists over the course of "one smoldering Los Angeles summer."

Girls Shorts
Short films.

Going Down in LA LA Land
A gay young New Yorker moves to Los Angeles and BOOM, what happens? Gay porn and prostitution!

Gun Hill Road
Enrique (Caprica's Esai Morales) comes home from a stint in prison to find his wife Angela (Scrubs' Judy Reyes) is having an affair, and his teenage son Michael (transgender actress Harmony Santana) is super-duper gay. Bummer! Turns out Enrique hates the gays because he was shower-raped in prison, so things between father and son get a little, you know, tense. Solid performances anchor the bleak, mopey Gun Hill Road, but the movie's understated beginnings spin off in a surge of melodrama, robbing the film of its early power. NED LANNAMANN

Harvest
See Film, this issue.

Hollywood to Dollywood
Hot gay twins Larry and Gary Lane embark on a cross-country road trip, in an RV they name Jolene, to place their very first script into their idol Dolly Parton's well-manicured hands. RV conversation topics include: tornadoes, floods, growing up gay in the South, and Dolly Parton! Sometimes things were just so special and wonderful that I had to breathe into a paper bag. Hollywood to Dollywood exists somewhere between a heartfelt documentary and a film by people with a lot of experience in reality TV. Subjects in attendance. SUZETTE "THE INTERN" SMITH

Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together
See Film, this issue.

Kink Crusaders
A doc about the International Mr. Leather Contest.

Mangus!
A disabled young man goes to live with his birth mother and lesbian half-sister in a Texas trailer park, and then decides he wants to play Jesus in a Jesus Christ Superstar knockoff.

Romeos
Director Sabine Bernardi's admirable film occasionally stumbles in its attempt to cantilever the dramatized, internal seriousness of its lead with humor and pathos. 20-year-old Lukas (Rick Okon), a female-to-male transgender completing hormone therapy and saving up for surgery, moves into a female dorm for community service, despite a convincing male appearance and demeanor. There he meets Fabio (Maximillian Befort) a stereotypical gay hunk who embodies the traits Lukas idealizes in himself. That conflict helps deepen Romeos' otherwise tired theme of hiding one's identity from someone for fear of losing them. WILL ELDER

Tomboy
Ten-year-old girl Laure begins living as a 10-year-old boy, Michael. Issues happen.

Trigger
See Film, this issue.

We Were Here
See Film, this issue. Director in attendance.

Weekend
Twenty-first century romance on the screen is begging for redrawing of its genre lines, and newcomer Andrew Haigh might be the one to do it. Reminiscent of the films of Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Meek's Cutoff, that insufferable one about the poor chick and her dog), Weekend is a work of grace and introspection, but one that's always present and candid. The space between expectation and reality guides Haigh's narrative, which follows two young British men who, after a boozed-up one-night stand, tenuously further their intimacy. WILL ELDER

FILM SHORTS

50/50
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

Circumstance
The new film (and it's totes a Film) Circumstance follows two BFF teenage girls in Iran: Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) is from a wealthy family, and while her parents are cool, her older brother is a creepy asshole, and while the family of Shireen (Sarah Kazemy) doesn't have much money, that hardly stops the girls (who are effing stunning and have the world's best eyebrows) from exploring their sexualities and doing all sorts of other fun stuff that can get you killed in Iran. It starts a bit silly (think Thirteen 2: Tehran Nights) but shit soon gets very real: Both heavy and sexy, Circumstance is full of artsy angles and thumping music that could've turned off a simple moviegoer like me. But the story was engrossing enough to look past the pretension: The whole thing feels dangerous, brave and important. Plus, there's a lot of making out. ELINOR JONES Fox Tower 10.

Dolphin Tale
A film "inspired by the amazing true story of a brave dolphin." <<FART NOISE>> Various Theaters.

Dream House
What's this? A crappy looking horror flick that wasn't screened for critics? Why, I never.... Various Theaters.

Granito
Pamela Yates' continuation and reflection of her 1982 film When the Mountains Tremble. Director in attendance. Screens as part of the Northwest Film Center's Voices in Action: Human Rights on Film series. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival
The annual convergence of all things betentacled and gothic. More info: hplfilmfestival.com. Hollywood Theatre.

The Hedgehog
One part The Royal Tenenbaums, one part Babette's Feast, with enough pint-sized ennui to choke a goldfish, The Hedgehog follows Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic), a bright little girl (and possibly Camus reborn) set on killing herself on her 12th birthday rather than going on to live the absurd life of wealth and malaise she sees before her—but, whaddya know, first she has to get through a Gruff Character and a Wise Character with some Truths to impart. Whimsical and lovingly shot, The Hedgehog pulls from a lot of playbooks, but it works, probably better than it should. Leave it to the French to make the feel-good movie of the year about suicidal children. MELANIE "THE INTERN" JOHNSON Fox Tower 10.

Machine Gun Preacher
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

Master of the Flying Guillotine
See My, What a Busy Week! Hollywood Theatre.

My Own Private River
James Franco's collage of deleted scenes and outtakes from Gus Van Sant's 1991 My Own Private Idaho. Harking back to Van Sant's earlier styles with long, uncut shots of landscapes and close-ups, Franco's film focuses primarily on late actor River Phoenix's character, Mike. Prepare for a slow-paced drama that won't put you to sleep, thanks to poignant, effortless dialogue and contrasted scenery. Weaving sarcastic humor with gritty hardships, River stands as an introspective take on Van Sant's classic. Followed by a taped conversation between Franco and Van Sant, recorded at the Hollywood Theatre last week. ALEX ZIELINSKI Hollywood Theatre.

New Spanish Cinema
The Northwest Film Center lines up a slew of contemporary Spanish films in an attempt to offer "something for Spanish cinema lovers of all persuasions." The series kicks off with David Serrano's With or Without Love; this week's films include Every Song Is About Me, Kidnapped, Who Can Kill a Child?, 80 Days, The Great Vasquez, and Half of Oscar. More info: nwfilm.org. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
See review this issue. Hollywood Theatre.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks
François Ozon's 2000 adaptation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's play. Fifth Avenue Cinema.

What's Your Number?
See review this issue. Various Theaters.