Local film highlights

There are a lot of sweet films playing at local theaters this week and unless you spent your weekend thanking the sun gods while lounging around in the wonderful weather, you probably don’t have the time to pick out the best ones.

There are a lot of sweet films playing at local theaters this week and unless you spent your weekend thanking the sun gods while lounging around in the wonderful weather, you probably don’t have the time to pick out the best ones. But don’t worry about it—we’ve searched through them for you.

Tuesday

Night of the Hunter
In the role that defined his career, Robert Mitchum is Preacher Harry Powell, a schizophrenic preacher who is after the stolen fortune his new sweetheart’s dead husband left behind. Night of the Hunter is a film that grapples between good and evil, as Preacher Powell relentlessly follows his now step-kids, who are reluctant to tell him the whereabouts of the treasure.

Laurelhurst Theater
7 p.m.
$3
21+

Wednesday

Mother
Forgot to do something nice for your mama on Mother’s Day? Don’t take her to this film to make up for it. Mother, a single parent, spends her days taking care of her 27-year-old son, Do-Joon. When Do-Joon walks home intoxicated one night, he follows a pretty schoolgirl for a little while until she disappears into an alley. The next morning, the girl is found dead and Do-Joon is accused of her murder. Grappling with the denial that her son could commit such a crime, Mother begins to investigate the case herself and the South Korean film turns into a total creep fest.

Living Room Theaters
12:10 p.m., 5 p.m., 8:20 p.m.
$6 w/PSU ID
21+ after 4:30 p.m.


Bread and Tulips

This one isn’t technically playing at a “local theater,” but Costello’s Travel Caffé screens a different foreign film on most Wednesdays. This week’s film, Bread and Tulips, tells the story of Rosalba, a middle-aged woman who is left behind at a rest stop during a family bus trip. Feeling as if something is missing in her life, Rosalba takes the opportunity to hitchhike to Venice. What is planned as only a day or two venture turns into longer, and Rosalba finds herself taking a job and making a new set of friends.

Costello’s Travel Caffé
7:30 p.m.
Free
All ages

Thursday

A Prophet

This is the third foreign film on this list, but reading subtitles is good for you. This one, from France, tells the story of 18-year-old Malik El Djebena, who is just beginning a six-year prison sentence. Despite his illiteracy, Djebana quickly learns the political system within the prison, which puts him in the center of the power struggle that divides the prisoners. Directed by Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped), A Prophet is not a film to miss.

Laurelhurst Theater
9 p.m.
$3
21+

Friday

Small Change

Yes—this film is also French. One of François Truffaut’s best works, Small Change follows the lives of a group of children in Thiers, France. Less of a three-act story and more of a collage of what it means to be a child, the film features scenes from the everyday lives of the children.

Hollywood Theatre
12 p.m.
$6.50
All ages