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1374 Willamette * 342.-8348
Butterfly' effectively induces nausea
Disgusting images pervade a movie
built on a strong, intriguing foundation
Surely everyone has wished he or she could turn
back time to erase stupid mistakes made in the
past. But if you were in Evan Trebom's shoes, you'd
probably go to the ends of the Earth to rewind the
clock. Evan (as a young adult, played by Ashton
Kutcher), who suffers from the effects of a child
hood plagued by events like involvement with a
pedophile and the live burning of his dog, devotes
himself to changing his life.
ing events are a little more sickening than wing
flapping. First, 7-year-old Evan, along with his
friend (and later, love interest) Kayleigh (Amy
Smart) and her brother Tommy (William Lee
Scott), are coerced into kiddie pornography films
by Kayleigh and Tommy's father.
The three mind-warped children, along with
their chubby pal Lenny (Elden Henson), end up
killing a few neighbors with a mailbox bomb.
Tommy resorts to engaging in violent fights and
murdering Evan's pet. Evan, who suffers from
blackouts after each traumatic event (and after
these occurrences, who wouldn't?) is encouraged
to keep a daily journal, which eventually becomes
his time-travel machine.
Following the butterfly metaphor, the resulting ty
phoon in this story is the eventual suicide of
Kayleigh, whose disturbing memories drove her to
take her life. Evan, who drops a note into her grave
reading, "I will come back for you," discovers that by
reading his old journal entries on the days that he
had blackouts, he can return to the days and change
what happened.
After going back and preventing Kayleigh's father
from abusing her, his entire present is transformed
into a dreamy, colorful college fantasy, where he and
Kayleigh are madly in love and popular members of
a university Greek system. Life seems to have
changed into perfection, but a new tragedy occurs,
which causes Evan to turn to his journals and change
his childhood again, and again, and again, until he
has lived six versions of his life, most of them dark
and twisted.
Numerous films have been made about time trav
el, and it's important to refrain from analyzing the
concept too thoroughly to keep your head from
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
MOVIE
REVIEW
* ^ W W. few W #
"The Butterfly Effect"
begins with a quote stat
ing that the simple flap
ping of a butterfly's wings
can cause a typhoon
halfway across the world.
In this case, the catapult
Courtesy
Kayleigh (Amy Smart) and Evan (Ashton Kutcher) live out alternate versions of Evan’s life in “The Butterfly Effect.”
spinning. Since the idea is utterly impossible, noth
ing — not even films — can really explain how dif
ferent today would be had something not occurred.
Films that attempt to spell out this idea should be
visually and emotionally pleasing in order to com
pensate for the bothersome confusion.
Unfortunately, most images in "The Butterfly Ef
fect" are so sick that the film not only makes your
head spin, it makes your stomach turn. Irksome
scenes include Kayleigh as a drugged-up prostitute
in the third version of Evan's life, a handicapped
Evan trying to drown himself and Lenny stabbing
Tommy in a childhood flashback.
Although the story line is unpleasant, "The But
terfly Effect" results in an interesting moral: Even if
you could make one skeleton in your closet vanish,
an even bigger one might appear. Correcting one
mistake doesn't guarantee that you won't make an
other. Although unrealistic, the idea of changing the
past is intriguing. You'll leave the theater thinking of
the small choices that led you to where you are to
day, with the mysterious notion of "What if?"
"The Butterfly Effect" is currently playing at Cin
emark 17 theaters, located at 2900 Gateway St. in
Springfield.
Contact the Pulse reporter
at natashachilingerian@dailyemerald.com.
Courtesy
Evan is able to erase tragic events from his childhood and
re-create the future simply by reading his old journals.
BVI'WImui
Community
Center lor the
Performing Arts
8th &
Lincoln
■ Friday ■
Porch
The Planet The, StopStyiGo,
Conception
Hard Rock
$7 door, 8:oo pm
■ Saturday ■
Skerik’s Syncopated
Taint Septet
with Tim McLaughlin’s Eleven Eyes
Jazz
Sio advamce, $io door, 8:oo pm
■ Sunday ■
Denali
La^uardia, Swords Project
Indie Rock
$7 door, 8:oo pm
■ Wednesday ■
Throw Ra?
Boss Martians, Sawyer Family,
Speedshin
Rock
$7 door
All Ages Welcome
6X7-2746
Pizza girl’ gives student artistic outlet
Brian Murphy, a University
student, aims to produce
his own independent film
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
While it is true that Eugene will
never be mistaken for Hollywood,
there have been numerous efforts to
make worthwhile cinema in the
Emerald Valley. But "Animal House"
nostalgia aside, a new filmmaker is at
tempting to bring his vision of the city
and its denizens to the big screen.
"Pizza Girl" is the planned title for
a new feature-length film from fifth
year student Brian Murphy. Set in lo
cal pizza shops and other suburban
hang-outs, the film will deal with a
group of young people going through
a transitional period in their lives.
"I've always wanted to make films,"
he said. "With this project, I wanted to
tackle something big."
"Big" is a relative term, as Murphy
is trying to put the production togeth
er while making due with scant re
sources. The film will be shot using
inexpensive digital recording equip
ment and a volunteer cast and crew.
"I've saved up about $7,000 over the
past few years from paychecks," he
said. "I also got some cash from friends
and family. By the end of this I'm aim
ing for about a $ 10,000 budget."
That amount doesn't go a long way
toward working out some of Murphy's
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Brian Murphy is preparing to start production on his film in the coming weeks.
bigger ideas for the film.
"There is a car that is pivotal to the
plot that we need to wreck at the
end," Murphy said. "We've been on
the lookout for a cheap car that runs."
Despite monetary troubles, Mur
phy and his collaborators have had
good luck finding people to work on
the film. After placing an advertise
ment in The Register-Guard, the film
makers were flooded with responses,
according to Murphy and his casting
agent, sophomore Robb Norton.
"I was surprised by the initial re
sponse," Norton said. "Since then,
we've narrowed it down to 40 people "
Acting hopefuls are not the only
people looking to work with Murphy
and company.
"We get people calling up and saying
'Hey, I can do makeup?" Murphy said.
"It's been a really surprising outpour
ing of interest."
Even with so much support for
"Pizza Girl," the filmmakers still have
to find ways to cut corners. To that
end, Murphy has enlisted the help of
his roommate, fifth-year student
Frank Pokorny, to make the props
and various tools necessary for shoot
ing the film.
"The key is doing it yourself rather
than buying ready-made parts," Poko
my said. "It's a real two-by-four, nuts
and-bolts approach. I recently put to
gether a dolly out of skateboard
wheels, using PVC pipe as track."
With rehearsals set to begin next
week and filming planned for mid
March, Murphy said he is looking
ahead to what will happen once the
film is finished.
"I'm hoping for a premier at the Bi
jou Art Cinemas," he said. "After that,
I'm going to be sending it out to film
festivals. Most of them have a $25
$30 entrance fee, so I'm going to have
to save up another stack of money."
Until then, Murphy and his collab
orators are concentrating on getting
the film made and are looking for
ward to the work ahead.
"It's exciting to be involved in a
project where everyone is working for
the same goal, but at the same time
doing their own thing," Pokorny said.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.