Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Portland Oregon Visitors Association describes the Rose City as “green, clean, friendly, and vibrant”.  But a vision of Portland as gritty and gloomy crystallized on the silver screen in the 1989 film “Drugstore Cowboy”. 

Now Portland’s drug culture and street life are depicted in a new independent movie being filmed this month.  The name speaks for itself, as Colin Fogarty reports.

“Steet” stars two up and coming actors, Laura Ramsey and Toby Hemingway, along with the more experienced Vivica Fox.

The film is written and directed by the up and coming director – and former professional snow boarder -- York Shackleton.  He says it’s about a young girl in Portland.

York Shackleton:  "It’s really the story of, you know, troubled youth.  It’s the story of a girl with a control-issued mother."

Played here by Theresa Russell.

Nat sound:  (Shackleton) "OK, camera set and action!"

Theresa Russell:  "Lexi, why is this door locked.  Lexi open the door."

The actors, crew, lights, and sound equipment are crowded into a 70s ranch house in Gresham.

Theresa Russell:  "Who was in here?  You’re lying to me.  I heard a boy’s voice in here.  Who was here?"

Laura Ramsey: "No one, I’m studying."

Theresa Russell:  "Tell me who was here.  This is my house and my rules."

York Shackleton: "One thing leads to another.  And one night she runs away from home and ends up on the streets of Portland, Oregon.  And she meets this guy who is a pretty competent dude living on the streets.  He’s pretty street savvy.  He’s got a problem with heroin though, which is pretty much his downfall."

Theresa Russell: "Open your bag."

Laura Ramsey:  "Why?"

Theresa Russell:  "You know why.  Now open it."

York Shackleton:  "She starts out a very timid kind of naive young girl.  And by the end, she’s really grown in to who she is as a person."

The story is loosely based on journals kept by the sister of Kristin Jensen, one of the producers of “Street”.  Jensen says her sister was homeless for three and a half years and passed through Portland.

Kristin Jensen:  "She had no money.  She had to find her own food.  Beg for money.  She still carries a knife with her wherever she goes.  The story is similar in the fact that she met a guy that had been living on the streets for a long time and he pulled her in to the street lifestyle and that’s why she stayed on the streets for so long is because she met someone to go experience it with."

In reality, Jensen’s sister traveled from city to city.  But in the movie, the city of Portland is so important that York Shackleton says he could not have made the film in any other city.

“Street” doesn’t have a big enough budget to qualify for the tax breaks the state of Oregon provides to lure the film industry.  Instead, Shackleton says he was drawn by a certain gloom here.

York Shackleton:  "The city itself provided the look and feel of the film.  It’s almost like Gotham City in a way when I look at it.  So for me, I wanted to explore all the areas that most people aren’t used to and show there’s more here than just the little downtown city that most people think of."

Portland boosters try to project an image of a progressive city on the cutting edge of urban living.  The city’s seamier side came out strongly in “Drugstore Cowboy”, directed by Portland native Gus Van Sant.

More recently, Rene Denfeld’s book All God’s Children depicted a sadistically violent street kid subculture in Portland.  But Shackleton says his film aims to show beauty in the street.

York Shackleton:  "Because it really is a love story, you know, even though there’s a lot of drugs and a lot of terrible things that happen in this film, it’s really a beautiful love story between these two people.  And to set that in a place like Portland, that itself has a certain dark beauty to it, I thought it would be a perfect match."

“Street” is scheduled to be completed early next year.  But like most independent films, it doesn’t yet have a distribution deal.  So it’s not clear when or whether it will be coming to a theater near you.