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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 2016)
July 1-7 MOVIES BY RICK LEVIN 13th Ave 541-357-0375 FILM. FOOD. FRIENDS. bijou-cinemas.com Serving the Eugene Community for Over 35 Years! DARK HORSE (PG) 1:45, 6:00 LES COWBOYS (R) In French with English Subtitles 3:45, 8:00 LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (PG) Friday - Monday 2:00, 6:15 Tuesday 1:30, 5:30 Wednesday & Thursday 2:00, 6:15 VIVA (R) In Spanish with English Subtitles Friday - Monday 4:00, 8:15 Tuesday 3:30 Wednesday & Thursday 4:00, 8:15 CITY SLICKERS CAN’T STAY WITH ME: THE COACH BOB LARSEN STORY Tuesday 7:30 TICKET PRICES: MATINEE before 6pm $5 ADULT $8 | STUDENT $7 | SENIOR 62+ $5 CHILD age 12 & under $5 JULY 1 – JULY 7 ALEXI PAPPAS (SECOND FROM RIGHT) IN TRACKTOWN P HOTO BY F RED GORIS 43 W. BROADWAY v (541) 686-2458 BUY TICKETS ONLINE AT WWW.BROADWAYMETRO.COM ALMOST HOLY 12:05 7:30 7:30 12:05 7:30 HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS FRI 12:10 2:30 4:50 7:10 SAT 12:10 4:50 7:10 SUN-TUE 12:10 2:30 4:50 7:10 WED 12:10 2:30 THU 12:10 2:30 4:50 7:10 WHAT WE BECOME 9:30 MAGGIE'S PLAN 12:10 2:30 4:50 7:10 9:45 THE LOBSTER 11:45 2:25 5:05 7:45 9:30 10:15 THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY 2:30 5:00 METROarts PRESENTS: THE ROYAL OPERA: LA TRAVIATA SAT 11:00 am RSC: SHAKESPEARE LIVE! WITH JUDI DENCH AND MORE WED 6:00 pm FRI SAT SUN-THU ($19 ADULTS/$17 STUDENTS/$16 SENIORS/$15 M REWARDS) REGULAR ADMISSION (EXCLUDES SPECIAL EVENTS) $9 ADULTS v $8 STUDENTS v $6 SENIORS/CHILDREN v $6 MATINEE COMING SOON TICKLED THE FITS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE EAT THAT QUESTION TIX $6 $3 $2 $1 off stud/SEN Sun Tues *NEW* ALL AGES FRI JULY 1ST - THUR JULY 7TH HAIL, CEASAR! 5:10 A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING 5:15 VAXXED 7:05 DEADPOOL 7:05 POPSTAR 8:55 HAIL, CEASAR! 9:00 *NO SHOW FRIDAY, MAY 27TH $2 TUESDAYS 26 June 30, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER Set and shot in Eugene, Tracktown tells the story of a young runner as she faces the Olympic Trials and wise, and the cognitive dissonance between her almost ew things are as staid and predictable as the lone-athlete pathologically single-minded focus on running and her new-found sports film. Since the sleeper success of Rocky in 1976, absorption into the gritty, chaotic world provides a unique and such movies have become increasingly formulaic potboilers thrilling glimpse into the mind of an athlete — what it takes to win, in which we dutifully witness, as though through a fisheye and what can get in the way of winning. lens, the algorithmic progress of an underdog as he confronts Co-written and co-directed by Pappas and Jeremy Teicher, endless obstacles on the way to inevitable triumph. Cue ovation. Tracktown is successful on several levels at once. Though it isn’t Thankfully, Tracktown subverts that formula in surprising ways without its romanticized elements, the without losing its competitive edge. Set film does offer a frank and sometimes in Eugene, the movie tells the story of jarring portrayal of the gritty life of a Plum Marigold (Alexi Pappas, a real- young runner: peeing by the side of the life member of the Oregon Track Club trail, a stalled menstruation, the head- Elite team here in town), a long-distance case parents with their issues of control, runner training to run in the Olympic the obsessive focus on training that can Trials. alienate and isolate the athlete. When Plum is momentarily sidelined The movie is unflinching in its by an injury, she is plunged into everyday revelation of the real cost of competition, life — a daylong journey she experiences an honesty that only strengthens as a kind of existential odyssey through the heroism at the heart of Plum’s unfamiliar corridors of doubt, desire pursuit. Pappas brings a brightness and and re-dedication. Tracktown hones vulnerability to her role that speaks of down close on this single day, as Plum hard-won experience: She is an able wanders Eugene, meets a guy (Chase actor who is also a professional athlete, Offerle), deals with her overbearing and we implicitly trust the reality she is parents (Andy Buckley of The Office portraying. fame and SNL alum Rachel Dratch) and, More impressively, Tracktown eventually, comes face to face with her refuses to traffic in the easy sentiments own identity as a runner. of most films of its ilk. It is irrelevant As Plum, Pappas makes her way whether there is gold at the end of through the film as a kind of waifish alien, Plum’s trials. As she prepares for the full of wide-eyed wonder and innocent most important race of her career, the bemusement as she confronts the stuff issue becomes not how, or even whether, most of us take for granted: namely, she wins, but what she must overcome other people and all the psychological in the process. It’s not the goal but the and sexual quirks that come with them. journey that makes the athlete. A virgin, both literally and figuratively, Tracktown has its Oregon premiere 7 she is about to receive an education in ALEXI PAPPAS AND OREGON TRACK CLUB COACH IAN pm Tuesday, July 5, at McDonald Theatre; the ways of the world. DOBSON AFTER A RACE $10, tickets at mcdonaldtheatre.com. Plum is at once charming, childlike F
