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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2011)
movies BY SHANNON FINNELL Asian Food Market Largest Selection of Asian Groceries Seaweed, rice, noodles, frozen products, deli, snacks, drinks, sauces, spices, produce, housewares, and more. Gregory Bateson in An Ecology of Mind We carry groceries from Holland, India, Pakistan and Polynesia Cinema Pacifi c Sushi & Asian deli take-out SHOPPING CENTER 29TH AVENUE inema Pacifi c is a bouillabaisse of art. The fi lms, talks and visual art exhibits aim to expose audiences to fi lms and new media from countries around the Pacifi c (including the U.S.), and to connect artists and the public. Venues across Eugene host the events, which continue through Sunday, April 10. Liu Jiayin and her parents invite viewers into their home in the pseudo- documentary Oxhide, a portrait of a Chinese family trying to stay afl oat with their leather handbag making business. The fi lm follows the family members through ordinary moments inside their apartment, discussing their business as well as their pet peeves with one another. Playing characters loosely based on themselves works for the family of actors, and the amateurs appear so real that Oxhide feels like a true, intrusive documentary. Arguments and a few moments of violence, debates and ongoing worries show the diffi culty of transitioning to entrepreneurism in modern Beijing. In the tiny apartment, Jiayin makes a virtue from a liability, choosing to shoot each scene on one camera from a single take. Many of the scenes reveal only hands or torsos, and the apartment is so dim that others are almost entirely in silhouette. The style reinforces the economic diffi culties that the family faces — that its debts are closing in on them and selling their leather purses isn’t helping them climb out of the hole. His customers’ constant demands for a discount stress the father’s pocketbook and dignity. He tries to focus on other problems, like his adult daughter’s shortness, but the only relief from the unsolvable height is in its distraction. Beibei (Jiayin) hates his atrocious table manners. The mother wishes everyone could be more sympathetic toward each other. The sum of these confl icts is a scab on the wound that is their debt, and it is picked, picked, picked. The torn fl esh is a vivid and beautiful if somewhat forlorn portrait of modern China, apart from the technology and the menacing boom trumpeted in the West. An Ecology of Mind is a traditional documentary, a portrait of director Nora Bateson’s father, Gregory Bateson. An anthropologist and philosopher, Bateson continuously questioned ways of looking at the world, and the fi lm seeks to unpack the way that Bateson settled on viewing it. Whether a viewer likes An Ecology depends entirely on the viewer. Innate philosophers and perhaps neurology buffs will appreciate the way that Bateson thought and enjoy glimpses of his fascinating life. But if you’re a person who makes fun of people who talk about whether a table is really a table when they are way, way too stoned? It’s boring as hell. ew Oxhide plays at 6:45pm Saturday, April 9, at Bijou Art Cinemas. Director Liu Jiayin will be present. A follow up to the 2005 fi lm, Oxhide II, will play at the Bijou at 1pm, Sunday April 10; An Ecology of Mind plays at 6:45pm, Thursday April 7, at Bijou Art Cinemas, with Joan Gratz’s Puffer Girl and Kubla Khan. Director Nora Bateson will be present. 5 OAK STREET C WoodÀ eld Station WILLAMETTE STREET Eugene and UO’s festival features films and directors Sunrise www.sunriseasianfood.com H ULTC ENT ER .ORG or 541.682.5000 Also at UO’s EMU Ticket Offi ce Special $10 college student tickets for Selected events presented by: Eugene Ballet Co., Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Opera*, Eugene Symphony, Oregon Mozart Players Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Music@Beall Hall M-Th 9am-7pm•F 9am-8pm•Sa 9am-7pm•Su 10am-6pm *rush/day of performance only 70 W. 29th Ave. Eugene • 541-343-3295 World’s largest cooking school from America’s favorite food magazine! Join the fun for a two hour live cooking demonstration by Taste of Home, Culinary Specialist Kristi Larson, Vendor Expo, Door Prizes & more. WHEN: Tuesday April 12, 2011 Vendor EXPO opens at 4pm ~ Cooking Show stars at 6:30pm WHERE: Lane Events Center Admission: $15, Seating is Limited VIP Tickets: $40, limited to 100 Show admission, premium reserved seating, One year subscription to the TOH magazine, Complimentary Taste of Home Autographed cook- book, Back Stage Tour & Culinary Specialist meet & greet VIP Tickets available at Olive Grand 1041 Willamette Street 541.685.1000 Presented by: McKenzie River Broadcasting FREE PAD THAI With Purchase of Thai Food Mongolian Beef Red Curry Spicy Noodle Pepper Steak Green Curry Panang Curry Garlic Pepper Yellow Curry Fried Rice Delicious Th ai Food • Donuts 1/2 Price 5pm-9pm and Oregon Medical Group 3177 Gateway St. Springfi eld • (541) 988-5991 dinner only. coupon good until May 1, 2011 EMGE WHYTE SERVICE & CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS Eugene D. Emge Pam Whyte Hilary Anthony EXCELLENCE IN tax & accounting professionals Support Eugene Opera, Symphony, & Ballet! 25O5 W. 11th Ave • Eugene, OR 974O2 • 485-21OO WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM MAJOR SPONSORS: Oldfi eld’s Appliance and Home Theater, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Dari Mart & Lochmead Farms www.kknu.fm / 541.484.9400 www.tasteofhome.com EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 7, 2011 23
