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THE PIONEER LOG ARTS

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

A different perspective
PDXS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
NO Chile
BY ALLIE MCRAITH
NEWS EDITOR The 36th Portland International Film Festivals motto, Extend your cultural pinky, is appropriate. Regardless of the movie, for approximately two hours you will be guaranteed an in-depth look at another culture. And last week, I was granted access to the world of Chile in 1988. Exploring a concept Americans have proven to adore in Mad Men, NO is a more historically accurate representation of the relationship between advertising and politics. This film provides a compelling look at the YES and NO campaigns, in which the YES campaign supported re-electing dictator Augusto Pinochet. Starring Gael Garca Bernal as Ren Saavedra, the brains behind the NO campaign, it tells the story of how the underdogs employed the tricks of advertising to persuade the public to vote to overthrow Pinochet. Using actual footage and a low-definition camera authentic to 1980s Chile, director Pablo Larran tells a beautiful story of hope, fear and patriotism. To quote the movie, or at least the English subtitles: It works, I got goose bumps.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY TED HAMILTON (13)

CoRdilleRa de los andes, Chile.

The early morning sun warms chilly climbers at 2700 m on Cerro Manchn.

BeyONd The hills Romania

BY MAX LARUE
STAFF WRITER Beyond The Hills tells the tale of two women who befriended each other in an orphanage when they were young and have now reunited at the unusual new home of one of the women: a small and somewhat extremist religious cult in rural Romania. One of the women is a nun at the church, while the other is an outsider threatening the security of the parish. The film focuses on the relationship between the two women as well as the nature of cult mentality, which offers benefits to its members while posing a threat to those who defy it. The films strength lies in its absolutely stunning cinematography; although the acting was largely hit or miss, the films composition made up for the movies flaws.

Co-Op to host local bands, special guest

BY HAYLEY TRIVETT
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tonight at the Co-Op, Los Angeles musician Dayve Samek joins local musicians to form Trance Farmers. Last month, Stones Throw Records released Trance Farmers single Purple Hay as a part of the collaborative album Dual Form. The dreamy pop track is a mere introduction to the bands experimentation with samples and richly textured psych rock. Im excited to see how Trance Farmers translates from a bedroom project to a full live band. Purple Hay was full of fuzzed out moments while still sounding something like doo-wop. Ill be curious to see if the live band continues in that direction or transform into something new, said Co-Op Music Coordinator Kevin Muhitch (14). Preceding Trance Farmers is Portlands Sweet Tooth. This recently formed quartet creates 50s-style garage pop without sounding gimmicky. Expect a gritty cover of The Beatles Twist and Shout in their live set. Fake Nails remain consistent with the lineups lo-fi garage pop theme, but they also introduce a subtle post-punk quality. Amid the nostalgic pop, solo artists Cameron C. Rogers and Stevie Schmidt will offer a change of pace with a more contemporary, electronic prelude to the night. Tonight, 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., The Co-Op lots to mull over after leaving the theater. That being said, if you enjoy history, drama and gripping plot twists and can deal with your heart being broken time and time again, then I would highly recommend Lore. NO: Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. in Whitsell Auditorium and Feb. 17 at 4:45 p.m. at Regal Lloyd Center 10. Beyond the Hills: Feb. 9 at 8:30 p.m. in Whitsell and Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at RLC 4. Lore: Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Whitsell and Feb. 11 at 5:45 p.m. at the RLC 10.

A LITERARY COLUMN
nally pursuing a woman who existed largely in my own imagination, but I was becoming more absorbed by the romance of her discussion than by the thrill of actually meeting her. I waited in Cafe Paradiso for three weeks. Jeanette never showed her face, although we did run into each other at a party on another bitterly cold Urbana evening. I nodded hello and hid by the absurdly ILLUSTRATION BY KELSEY GRAY well-stocked snack table. She swayed BY ETHAN SCHILLER in a corner, performing questionable hipSTAFF WRITER jerks to the music. We didnt speak to each other; my initially fluttering heart slowed to I met Jeanette a year ago at my bris. The accommodate the tortilla chips I was shovevent dedicated to my severed foreskin was ing down my throat. The transposition of small and lively, and Jeanette and I flirted throughout. Nothing came of the chemistry fantasy over reality was uncomfortablethe Jeanette I saw dancing poorly to Gangnam we establishedthe recent scar tissue renStyle did not measure up to the goddess I dering me entirely incapablebut by the had invented. No one could. time I had left my frigid prairie hometown The faces of my hometown swim in an the next morning, the idea (and accompanying fiction) of Jeanette was planted in my ocean of consistency. They are all known, familiar, roseate from cheap grain alcohol brain. and walks in the prairie. We sometimes The fiction grew throughout the followmake strides towards novelty, but each ing year, nourished by frequent visits to her Facebook page. I discovered a Jeanette who vacation returns to the same inebriation, the same bitingly numb extremities. The devowas obsessed with The X Files, a Jeanette tion I afforded my imaginary Jeanette was who had had the same Amelie haircut since 2007 and a Jeanette who had a very discour- not native to that Urbana routine. Jeanette was an essential piece of Portaging record of leaving loud, self-obsessed land: a Bon crush, a chance encounter at a college boys writhing in her dust. party that you never cease mythologizing. I, of course, was not discouraged. The By grafting that process to familiar, empty Jeanette that I was compiling existed in my Urbana, I was holding on to a part of LC, head, and she could not have been more a part of all college life, that I didnt want attracted to me. It was with this powerful self-assurance that I returned to Urbana, Ill., to leave behind. Now winter break is over, and the Jeanettes are out in force at Lewis a year later, to ask everyone I knew about & Clark. Ill be on the sidelines, preparing the whereabouts of my elusive Venus. for another round of ill-advised, imaginary I was beginning a time-honored tradicourtships. tion of seduction and narration. By day I waited for her at Cafe Paradiso, a hip Interested in sharing your creative fiction? watering hole that I knew she frequented; Email piolog@gmail.com by Sunday to have by night my friends and I would spectate your sumbission considered. Please keep your loudly on the days attempt, eager to alter stories to 400 words. the tedium of winter break. I was nomi-

Creative Corner

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lOre austRalia
BY EVA GOELLNER
STAFF WRITER Lore, a film by Australian director Cate Shortland, tests the emotional limits of moviegoers with its convoluted and heartwrenching plot. Beginning at the end of World War II, the movie follows the journey of five siblings after they are abandoned by their Nazi Schutzstaffel parents during a 500-mile-long trek to their grandmothers house. As these children, led by eldest sister Lore, set out on their odyssey across Germany, the challenges and horrors of war that face them are unimaginably grim. Along the way, they encounter and receive help from a young male Jewish survivor whose kindness and survival techniques are under-appreciated, especially by Lore, because of the childrens Nazi upbringing. Set against the dramatic backdrop of Southern Germanys Black Forest, the twists and turns of Lore send viewers on an emotional roller coaster. The director successfully tackles a very difficult story and a beautiful, powerful film is the result. The images, in conjunction with the story, were often difficult to watch; similarly, the subject matter is so heavy that I was left with