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