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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1987)
poppl/ GREEKTAVERNA Greek Food, Wine and Spirit Still in the same location 675 East 13th • Eugene, Oregon • 343-0846 Closed Tuesdays • Tables Outside ^Clip and Save —Clip and Sava TASTE THE DIFFERENCE! Certified Organically Crown Blue Star Fanns 9 Buy,2lbs.Get1 One Step Forward Farm lb. FREE • Available at. the following fine food stores: • Sunshine (Cottage Grove) • The New Frontier * Food Connection • The Red Barn • Burliman’s • Sundance • The Kiva • Oasis with this coupon valid through October 14th • e If Clip and Save I ORGANICALLY GROWN CO OP I Uniquely University Theatre SUBSCRIBE NOW! BEST THERIRE BUY IN TOWN! See sIh ploys for only $27.50 Additional discounts for seniors 0 students ORPHANS - October 15-17,22-24 Two orphaned brothers take in a alrango now roommate Involved In Illegal activities. NOISES OFF - December 3-5, 10-12 The audience views the backstage of a play and Ha actors with their hilarious interludes and near misses. DRNCE 88 - January 21-23, 28-30 The U of O Department of Dance la back for H's annual concert of excitement and celebration. ANTIGONE - March 3-5, 10-12 The famous Sophocles tragedy about love, death. honor and the preservation of pride. THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST - April 14-16, 21-23 Both Henley’s off broadway hit again reveals her gift for capturing the zany and abeurd events that evolve in small towns. LODE’S LABOURS LOST - May 26-28, June 2-4 Thia Shakespeare comedy consists of stylized puna, word games, witticisms and an unconventional ending. Cell or visit the Robinson Theatre Box Office now. Box Office hours: 12:00-4:00 Monday-Saturday. 686-4191 ■CINEMA Review: Matewan John Sayles latest is powerful, disturbing by Deborah S. McGee 9 Matewan, like the recent Cast away, is that rarity in commercial theaters: a cinematic product which breaks all movie-making cliches. If you think nothing any good ever comes to mainstream theaters, go see Matewan. Your notion will be shattered. Also, if you are satisfied with American movies, you may find Matewan frustrating at times, perhaps, but on the whole will enjoy it. It’s like a hearty bowl of woodsmoke-in-the nostrils grit, after days of instant oatmeal. Sayles’ story grabs even the cynic’s heart: Hill folk in Ap palachian coal mining country stand up to the men who have bought the hills out from beneath their feet. It’s slippery ground. It ain't easy. But they stick together in a beautiful way, and their efforts did, in fact, help lead to the for mation of the United Mine Workers. Matewan (pronounced “mate one”) is based on an actual incident in the town by that name, in West Virginia, in 1920. With such a powerful story, there must be a great ensemble of characters, and there is. Will Oldham plays Daniel, a 14-year old preacher and coal miner—yes, 14. He’s both attractive and repul sive, and Sayles doesn’t make him into a Christ figure, which would have happened with a less intelli gent director. Chris Cooper plays union organizer Joe Kenehan with Pacifist/idealist/union organizer Joe Kenehan (actor Chris Cooper) ar rives in Matewan, West Virginia, to join a coal miners’ rebellion which helped lead to formation of the United Mine Workers. a subtly charismatic energy. Kenehan is so similar to folk hero Joe Hill, I found that Joan Baez’s rendition of “Ballad of Joe Hill” came to my ears when leaving the theater. Other characters: James Earl Jones plays “Few Clothes” Johnson, and turns in one of his best-ever movie appearances. The hired company thugs are believably oily, there’s a “different” sheriff, and there are some interesting female characters widowed by coal mine disasters. Sayles, also a novelist, doesn’t seem to have learned how to use the movie medium to paint his characters with bolder strokes. Had it been clearer at the beginning, for exam ple, that Daniel is the narrator, the movie would have been even more effective. The brilliance of Matewan as a whole outshines these petty shadows. Its greatness rests in the way it seems to ask, “Which Side Are You On,” as Newsweek titled its review of the film. One character speaks it aloud when he says, “There are two kinds of peo ple: those that work, and those that don’t.” It’s a disturbing and timely exploration of duality at a time when we in the U.S. are hav ing trouble divining the true roots of democracy. Matewan brings to surface some disturbing questions about in Goldworks 1502 Willamette Mon-Fri: 10 am-6 pm Sat: 10 am-4 pm 343-2298 All Work Done on Premises ADVANCED ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR BEGINNERS ARE YOU—In a dead-end job? . . . Burned out?. . . Working too hard for too little?. . . Beyond the peak of your business or profes sion? . . . Losing the inflation battle? . . . Yearning to be more successful?. . . Wondering why you aren’t. . . yet?. . . Still am bitious? . . . Willing to learn? . . . Ready for a change? 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Matewan blasts any knee-jerk liberalism out from beneath us, in such scenes as the one at night at the coal mine entrance: scabs and striking workers arrive simul taneously. Camera shows heavy ar tillery of company thugs, then brief close-ups of a fist enclosing a rock, and a hand grasping a cudgel. We know the Italian and black workers join the union more out of fear than political leanings. As always in the film, Matewan steps back from being a podium for any straight party line. It’s pro labor, but doesn’t over-glamorize the movement, which would have been the typical Hollywood ap proach as in Norma Rae and Silk wood. Haskell Wexler’s cinematography is as superb as ever: He quietly reminds us throughout the film of the rugged terrain out of which these people carve their lives. A piercing a cappella solo female voice comes at appropriate times on the soundtrack—a perfect and memorable touch which links us to the pulse of bluegrass country. Local color rings true throughout Matewan, a strong film about the power of the people. SUNDAY BRUNCH Mon.-Fri. 7-5. Sun. 9-2 Closed Saturday High Street Cafe 1243 High Street • 345-4905 Zouch of Class 5 Clothing Quality Resale in Natural Fibers for women & children (to 6x) I Brand new items from San Francisco at reasonable prices. 4 We pay more for your used clothing! 2 2650 Willamette • 343-0095 Mon.-Fri. 10-5:30/Saturday 10-5
