Taking Woodstock (2009) User Reviews

Captures the Spirit of Woodstock in a Unique Way

[Jeradactyl · 8/10 · 26 August 2009]

From reading some of the other comments it sounds like most people that are disappointed in this film were mainly put off due to their expectations for a film that focuses on the music.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I loved the unique focus on the small town that hosted the festival and how it affected all of their lives. I believe it was a great way to really capture the vibe of Woodstock without getting too rapt up in the actual musicians that were playing, which to me has been focused on enough over the years.

If you have been to a multiple day festival before you will have a wonderful sense of nostalgia. This movie completely captures how amazing people can be when they remove themselves from the hum drum monotony of their day to day lives and get together with like minded strangers for a few days of complete freedom and joy.

A great feel good movie with a lot of veiled depth about the people that helped make Woodstock one of the most famous events the world has known.

Getting inside by hovering on the outskirts

[Chris Knipp · 8/10 · 31 August 2009]

Building a sweet coming-of-age comedy around a major American cultural event of the Sixties, 'Taking Woodstock' is lodged on the periphery of the legendary half-million-strong August 1969 "peace and love" rock concert held on Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm near the hamlet of White Lake, in the town of Bethel, New York. While director Ang Lee gives perhaps the most vivid sense on film yet of what it might have been like to witness the event unfolding as a "townee," he approaches it crab-wise, getting inside it by hovering on the outskirts.

In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Quentin Tarantino remarked at how hackneyed biopics are. He suggested the best way to depict the life of Elvis would be to make a movie about one day in the life -- say, the one when The King walked into Sun Records the first time. Lee takes a similar approach to the enormous muddy happening of August 15-18 1969 (this film is a 40th-anniversary celebration). After all it's been thoroughly covered by documentary filmmakers, and most of the acts were thoroughly filmed and recorded. But 'Taking Woodstock' partly trumps that real footage by depicting how the happening built like an invasion, focusing on some of the locals and the promoters and a couple of the acid heads but never even focusing on the stage at all.

This might sound like a Robert Altman knockoff, but it's really quite different. Lee isn't trying to build up Woodstock through lots of vignettes and pieces. This is more like Tolstoy's vision of the Battle of Waterloo, but instead of the battle itself, the distant noise and tumult is that of a concert with thousands swarmed around it. That's true for a moment or two, at least, and those moments are haunting. But Ang Lee is no Tolstoy (though he did his own peripheral (Civil) war picture in Ride with the Devil). In the end he doesn't focus on the battle at all. Though Lee's young protagonist, Elliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin), a gay Jewish every-youth and the dutiful son of an impoverished middle-aged couple whose decrepit motel has useless pretensions to being a Catskills resort, is depicted as making it all happen by, as head of the minuscule township's Chamber of Commerce, linking up charismatic, bushy-haired young promoter Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) with enterprising dairyman Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy), Ellie remains a peripheral figure of the concert, not even the witness of any of the 32 acts performed on stage. Ang Lee's new film lacks the somewhat hackneyed solemnity and pretension of his (admittedly far more emotionally powerful) 'Brokeback Mountain' or (much more stylish) 'Lust, Caution,' but his idea of depicting a great event, like Breugel, by magnifying peripheral figures, is a nifty one.

Elliot Teichberg is the main such Breugel figure, but his parents, the long-suffering Jake (Henry Goodman), and the rigid, paranoid Sonia (Imelda Staunton) loom large for him and us, humble laborers who make the crucifixion come to life. So do the damaged but charismatic young Vietnam vet Billy (Emile Hirsch) and Vilma (Liev Schreiber), the drag queen security guard who's a link with Ellie's New York life as a budding interior decorator, and with the Stonewall riots that had happened just a couple weeks earlier when Elliot was in Lower Manhattan. And there are plenty of others, notably the VW Guy (Paul Dano) and VW Girl (Kelli Garner), who start Ellie on a wonderful acid trip in their van, becoming his guides on an introductory tour of psychedelics. Yeah, "you had to be there," but as hackneyed as the Trip trope is, this is a good one: in its details as in its overall approach, 'Taking Woodstock' often succeeds because it doesn't try too hard and is cozy, offhand, and humorous.

The Sixties aren't about heroics or style, but about getting down, smashing barriers, breaking free -- way-stations of the romantic experience and milestones in any coming-of-age. Woodstock didn't really happen on the stage but in the mud and vans and tents, and Lee shows it that way. Its realities also included an insufficient number of Porta Potties, and townspeople raging at Elliot and Max for making the event happen but then charging big fees for cabins or sandwiches or a drink of water. Elliot's own mother is one of these. But then, somebody gets Jake and Sonia high and they dance in the rain. The motorcycle cop comes to do crowd control and ends up wearing a flower and giving rides. It's corny, but it happened. On the other hand, the borderline caricature depictions of Jews, Schreiber's amiable but overly broad transvestite, and even Emile Hirsch's clichéd, if lively, battle-scarred vet, all could have been thought through better.

Broaching such large events even peripherally, Lee and his writers, James Schamus, Elliot Tiber (author of the source memoir) and Tom Monte, arguably do owe us a bit more of the sex, the bad trips, and the music itself -- which can't be left outside the story of a great concert, whether its protagonist got to the stage or not. If you look at the real people -- Michael Lang, for instance -- they were rougher and sexier than anybody in this movie. The images of Elliot Teichberg's coming-of-age are as lightweight as everything else, and in the superficial sketching of his gayness the movie is as bland as the ditsiest biopic. 'Taking Woodstock' is a sweet, gentle, easy take on events. But remember that it's a coming-of-age comedy that happens in the midst of a tumultuous event, and you'll see that the light touch is not invalid. This was not the great Bad Trip concert; it was the great Good Trip concert. And the light touch allows the film to feel comprehensive with delicacy and keep its focus on the young man's sensibility.

A personal story

[mctimc · 7/10 · 30 August 2009]

Taking Woodstock is a personal story about a young man finding himself at a time when his generation was trying to do that throughout the world. It is not a "docudrama" about the event, so people expecting to relive the Woodstock festival, take note. Elliot's struggles and evolution through this unique event are another of Ang Lee's wonderfully textured allegories. That this fellow raised in China can so pointedly create the full emotional spectrum of the "youth movement" of that time is a testament to his artistry. This movie takes on a series of serious ideas with a light flair. Go in prepared to "go with the flow" and you'll leave feeling free, man.

Enjoyable but music is missing

[yris2002 · 7/10 · 17 October 2009]

I saw this movie being very attracted by the trailer which seemed to offer fun and deep involvement. Now I have seen it, and I can say that it is enjoyable, but not fully convincing. Obviously, Ang Lee drifts attention from the concerts and the music of those three epic days in 1969 to focus on the personal story of a young man and his odd family who worked and lived in the background of this great event. The characters are engaging, very well interpreted, but in the end I missed the real protagonist, music, being it the powerful means through which these young people gave voice to their need for change and revolution and which was revolutionary, indeed. The atmosphere of those days is rendered vividly, we get many physical perceptions, of naked bodies, mud, rain, sun, but not acoustic ones, and I perceived this as a flaw throughout the movie. In the end you ask yourself: wasn't Woodstock mainly a three-day concert? Where is music? The movie is solidly directed, the director knows perfectly what kind of product he wants to offer, and in the end we get fun and reflection around, but never inside an event, which never comes to be explicit. Very good actorial interpretations (Imelda Staunton playing the mother is simply wonderful), although the characters themselves appear to be looking for a soundtrack which lacks till the end.

a cheerful little romp with... AH! HIPPIES!!

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 28 August 2009]

Ang Lee and James Schamus like their hippie culture, and love themselves that August 1969 summer of Woodstock, and also the act of trying to capture it on film as it was to be there, on the outside and suddenly coming into the fold of looking in. One can feel the love for the period, the people, the music, the drugs, the whole scene, man. If it doesn't make for the greatest movie it might just be cause Lee has decided to make a precisely light-hearted affair with some fun moments but nothing really hard-hitting with its coming-of-age story. It's a been-there-done-that affair in terms of the major characters, and its more significant background subject provides more of the color and excitement in its two-hour run time.

It's basically about the people behind the scenes at Woodstock (we never see anyone famous, aside from certain semi-figures like Michael Lang and Max Yasgur, portrayed by actors), specifically the young guy Eliot who got together the Woodstock-financial people to his small town as part of Bethel, New York, and helped also to give (politely putting it) a boost to his parents' motel business. We see some of the ups and downs, the downs being things like gangsters trying to muscle their way into the earnings of the thousands of people flocking upstate to frequent the motel (and the up of getting 'security' with transvestite Liev Schreiber in an awesome performance), or just with Elliot's parents and how their attitudes stay mostly the same- what's with these damn kids and their hair and sex and drugs anyway- until towards the end of the three days of peace/love/music.

It's a funny movie for at least a good amount of its run-time. The writer Schamus knows how to milk some laughs out of small-town fears and those scenes of freak-outs that shake up the quiet veneer of rural upstate New York. One good example of this are the folks in the 'theater troupe' who live in Elliot's barn and who remind one of the mime troupe from Easy Rider (lots of naked reenactments of Chekhov). And I even liked how Martin navigates himself in scenes where he has to act perplexed but not show it too much like, "oh, hey, lots of hippies, OK, got to get back to work, whoa!" When it comes time for the more dramatically demanding scenes from Martin (a relatively inexperienced actor and mostly comedian by the way) he falls flat, or looks wonky when tripping his ass off with Paul Dano - a weird but affecting scene, by the way.

Lee decided, more or less, to just take it easy this time around. After the heavy head-trips of Hulk, Brokeback Mountain and Lust Caution, the guy needed to have a laugh, and what better way than to have some good times and breezy moments in reflecting on the one time hippies didn't get stomped down by cops or just wear lots of flowers in their hair. And when its airy and fun it works. When it tries to add some complexity (i.e. a gay innuendo moment is put out there and then never really mentioned again much to my dismay) and starts to get a little preachy towards the last quarter with Elliot having to come to terms with his life and working at his parent's motel (and discovering a dark secret about his rambunctious, irascible old Russian-Jewish mother played respectably by Imelda Staunton) it falls flat on its face. But its worth watching for those little moments - like when Elliot rides on the back of the motorcycle cop through the dense traffic of the road to the Woodstock concert. It's like the good-natured version of the traffic jam from Godard's Week End: less a-holes and more hippies.

Half-Mast Freak Flag

[cheryllynecox-1 · 7/10 · 4 September 2009]

I worshiped the youth culture from afar in the late sixties. I was too young to participate but did my best to disrupt jr. high assemblies with the Fish cheer. I didn't know about the Woodstock Festival until two weeks after it occurred, and I remember how much I hated being oppressed by a traditional establishment patriarchy who wouldn't even drive me across town to an anti-war demonstration. When I finally saw the documentary the following year, I knew I had missed something that was epic and iconic. (Big sigh...)

I had been looking forward to "Taking Woodstock" since I first read that it was in production. I was particularly eager to see Demetri Martin in a starring role; I've admired him for some time. I've also spent quality time in the Catskills--I love that part of the country. Lee's film certainly captures the beauty of White Lake, and generally recreates the groove and vibe of a specific time and place, but the narrative seemed somehow disjointed (unintentional pun) There seemed to be too many empty moments substituting for poignancy, and undeveloped stories that might have added a bit more depth to Lee's tale.

Demetri Martin as Eliot Teber, was adorable but I was frustrated by his poker face (something that makes his stage comedy hilarious). I enjoyed Liev Schreiber whose drag was not only believable, but also compelling. Henry Goodman, as Eliot's beleaguered father, was also finely developed, but Imelda Stauntan played his mother as a shrewish fishwife with virtually no redeeming character qualities. Not even after pot brownies.

Seeing "Taking Woodstock" makes me miss my long lost soundtrack of the original concert, something I shall remedy this weekend. I'm also eager to watch the documentary again with it's hippie-trippie split screens and portraits of long gone poets, artists, and other kindred spirits.

Ang Lee Nails It!

[bobt145 · 9/10 · 8 September 2009]

If you want to have a real sense of the concert and the mass of young people who attended, as a crowd, by all means check out "Woodstock" from 1970. It's all there, the music, the rain and mud, the buzz on the soundtrack replicating the buzz on the sound system at Yasgur's Farm.

But if you want to get a feeling of what Woodstock meant on a personal level, then Ang Lee's your man and you've come to the right place.

How Lee managed to film this recreation without using real footage, I have no idea. That's apparently what he did.

There in a number of shots is the hillside, mud and slop, with the stage below. The few food stands and portable johns at the top of the hill. The winding pathways through the side venues of jewelry, art, a class for this and a political table for that. The long narrow road that still leads off of New York State Route 17B to the Yasgur hillside where it happened.

It rained a lot, but there was sun, this was mid-August and Lee bathes us in the warm glow of peace. Especially true to the event as I remember, the state cop who returns a peace gesture, the locals making sandwiches and offering water from hoses.

Everyone who was there and lucid has a personal remembrance. Mine began on Friday evening with air mattresses not more than 50 feet from the stage and ended with the sacrifice of a blanket abandoned on the mudslide the hill had become by early Sunday morning. In between, I managed to shuttle down state route 55 and into New Jersey the back way, after the music ended Friday night, Saturday morning. Then back from New Jersey up the same road and finally ending about two miles the other side of the concert where the vehicle stayed untouched until it was reclaimed near dawn on Sunday.

By that time, all though I'd only had a few generous puffs of weed, freely offered by those who had some, I was hearing double and it was time to pack it in.

Yes, the brown acid warnings from Chip Monck (name?), the event "voice" echo'd in the acid trip of Demetri Martin, the young son who blunders into inviting the event to White Lake. The colors and details are incredible as seen from his eyes, slowly beginning to shift and then expanding until the hillside is undulating in waves around the lit stage below. A remarkable shot.

Martin won't win any academy awards; Imelda Staunton might for her portrayal of his paranoid Jewish mother who has hidden a fortune while her rundown motel is nearing foreclosure. And an honorable mention should go to Liev Schreiber as the cross-dressing former Marine who provides security at the motel.

Stereotypes? Sure. Few hippies ever were as mentally vacant as the Earthlite players. Did anyone buy Emile Hirsch's early post-Vietnam anguish? Fortunately, it was left on the doorstep of the main film and Hirsch's character later rings true. Just a high school buddy come home.

But see the film for its personal feel, very true to the event. The wish that Dylan would arrive. The helicopter flights to the medical tent. (only a small number of half-a-million needed any treatment at all.) The question, what about the boys in Vietnam. As one girl says on 17B, "Wish they were here." I was back just a little more than a week. Went with an Army buddy I'd never see again. Yet no one gave us grief for our short hair, mandatory to get out of Vietnam.

The music? Well, Arthur Lee and Love are the perfect accompaniment to the acid trip inside the bus (they never played at the festival.) When the early strains of Friday night's music begin to waft over an idyllic lake where dozens of kids bathe nude, it's Arlo Guthrie and I caught myself thinking, damn, it was dark when Guthrie appeared. But that was forty years ago and the memory can't be trusted.

Just the personal feeling. And despite some of the weaknesses in the subplot, Ang Lee did get the feeling right.

For the personal memories, he absolutely nailed it!

Taking Woodstock Strikes A Chord But Misses A Few Notes

[slider363 · 6/10 · 29 August 2009]

If ever there was a way to travel back in time than Woodstock would top my list of destinations. Unfortunately, such a traverse is a generous number of years away. I'm therefore forced to allow Hollywood to take me there instead. That in itself, is a dangerous proposition. Though the ambiance was secure, Ang Lee, the director of the film, missed a few notes in the reality of the event and in the depth and differences of those who attended.

"Taking Woodstock" is being released during the 40th anniversary celebration of this cultural outcry. It's hard to believe that I would be writing this article at 70 years old had I actually attended this three-day schmorgesborg of peace and love. The script itself is based on the book by Elliot Tiber, which dives deeper into the homosexual lifestyle of Elliot Teichberg, who is played in the film by comedian Demetri Martin. In the film, the decision over whether or not Elliott is gay or bisexual is completely up in the air and handled rather poorly. Though it is shown that Elliot is clearly sleeping with a male friend in the film, you can't overlook the love in his eyes as he speaks to Carol (Christina Kirk), a female collaborator in the running of Woodstock. It's a relationship that never comes to fruition though you never give up hope that something there will blossom. What's more, the over emphasis on homosexuality amongst hippies is a down-right hippieism that I personally refuse to accept. Just because hippies cried for freedom and love does not mean that every male participant was sleeping with the others.

The consequences of drugs in the film deserved a lot more care than this light hearted discovery of self will offer you. In one potentially gripping scene, Teichberg is offered acid by characters in the script who are simply known as VW Girl (Kelli Garner) and VW Guy (Paul Dano). Teichberg is taken inside of their Volkswagon Bus while the couple waits for the drugs to take effect. Once inebriated, the couple takes advantage of their guest in a session of technicolor rape. Though Teichberg (under the influence) willingly participates, I believe that the film would have been better suited to allow Martin's character to battle inner torments of regret, hope, and confusion with his life at that moment. The only redeeming positive in Teichberg's acid trip is in providing the single greatest shot in the film, which pictures a surreal vision of the concert itself. A romantic interpretation of what it must have felt like to be present at Woodstock.

The film is littered with similar instances and relationships which were screaming out for further exploration and growth. Teichberg's parents, played by Henry Goodman (Jake) and Imelda Staunton (Sonia) were particularly mistreated. The breakthrough performance in this film was played by the amazingly talented Liev Schreiber. Schreiber portrays an ex- marine/now cross dresser named Vilma who is a protector and guiding light for the Teichberg family. This angelic character is certainly a positive influence for change in an otherwise dysfunctional situation. What's interesting still, and never explained, is Schreiber's relationship with Teichberg's father. What appears to be a romantic situation may be nothing more than a friendly ear, and a positive essence, which eases Jake back to life. Unfortunately, like so many moments in this film, the potential for depth was ignored.

Taking a Wankk on History

[rooprect · 5/10 · 23 February 2012]

A movie about Woodstock with no Woodstock music. For the musicians & serious music lovers out there, that's all you need to know. Rent Jimi Hendrix - Wild Blue Angel instead.

While this isn't a bad story on its own, I wanted to warn those of you who, like me, may be fooled by deceptive marketing into thinking this is a true story about the famous Woodstock concert. First, it's not true (we'll get to that later). But even worse, it has very little to do with the great concert and totally drops the ball by featuring no music from the event advertised in the title of the film.

So if you're expecting to see/hear a nostalgic trip featuring music by Janis, Jimi, Ravi, The Who, The Dead, Jefferson Airplane, or any of the other entities that made up the soul of Woodstock, you'll be sorely disappointed. They aren't even a footnote.

So what the heck is "Taking Woodstock" about? It's about a guy named Elliot Tiber who published a book in 2007 claiming that he was the one who made Woodstock happen. This claim has been subsequently refuted by the true concert organizer, Michael Lang, and the man on whose farm the concert was held, Max Yasgur. Both Lang and Yasgur are depicted in the film as friends of Elliot Tiber, but in reality they didn't know him, and Max has stated that he never met Elliot.

All this is tolerable because, after all, this is a movie not a documentary. Some of the greatest films ever made took wild liberties with the truth, such as "Amadeus". But unlike "Amadeus" which is a powerful depiction of a man's vindictive struggle against god, "Taking Woodstock" is simply about some loser claiming he's more important than he is, giving us an autobiography of a rather uneventful existence by attaching himself to a grand event such as Woodstock.

I repeat, the Woodstock concert is barely a footnote. Instead we get the rather common story of a boy who's coming to terms with his selfish mother, coming to terms with his homosexuality and coming to terms with drugs and hippy freedom. Director Ang Lee tries his best to keep us on the Woodstock topic by showing oodles of disorienting, 8mm hand-held shots of hippies and miscellaneous 60s chaos, but it can't cover up the fact that this is basically just an autobiography of Elliot Tiber.

I'm told that this is a comedy. I suppose there were a few swats at humor, cutting to random weird scenes like a bunch of hippies stripping their clothes off and praying to a helicopter, or a bunch of hippies stripping their clothes off and shouting at a crowd of people. There's also a "comic relief" character who is a Vietnam vet suffering flashbacks of the jungle (yeah possibly disrespectful to Vietnam vets).

If you want to see this movie you should head to your local Blockbuster where you can find this DVD for sale in the bargain bin for $2. It's entertaining enough to warrant 2 bucks but not much more.

========ALTERNATE RECOMMENDATIONS========

If you want to see a funny hippy movie, check out "Grand Theft Parsons", a dramatized "true story" of what happened to singer Gram Parson's body after he died.

If you want to see an entertaining movie about an unsung hero behind the scenes of a famous event, look for the obscure Australian comedy "The Dish" about the lonely radio outpost that broadcast the moon landing in 1969.

If you want a movie with some cool 60s music, see "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" or "Pirate Radio".

And lastly, if you want to see a movie about a guy who wrote a book claiming to be something he's not, check out "The Hoax" about the man who claimed to have interviewed the mysterious Howard Hughes.

"Taking Woodstock" doesn't fit into any of the above categories, despite what the DVD cover promises. Instead it's an OK coming-of-age flick about a boy realizing his independence.

Director Ang Lee Has Captured the True Essence of WOODSTOCK Better Than Any U.S. Born Director!

[Tony-Kiss-Castillo · 9/10 · 26 December 2021]

TAKING (the Music Out of) Woodstock!....OK, maybe my re-worked title is somewhat over the top. But then "Taking Woodstock" is a bit over the top, too! Hell, 1969 was over the top, wasn't it?! But who really cares! Come on, people! It's a Movie! Name ONE film set in 1969 that isn't a little overdone. I should know about Woodstock; I was THERE.......in spirit!

Sadly, as much as I, and about 50% of Americans in my age demographic, longed to be present, we formed part of the 98%(of the half) who couldn't make it. The other 50%, incidentally, were probably praying for the earth to open up and swallow those 1/2 million music, marijuana and peace-loving souls. ("Nearly 500K attended Woodstock" -Wikipedia) Director Ang Lee has really amazed me. He has made...

A) The film that best encapsulates, captures the true essence, of this great cultural benchmark concert and most extremely divisive moment in our nation's history since the Civil War!

B) He did this despite being someone from outside our American culture!

C) He has managed to serve up what was, for me at least, the one of most entertaining and vibrant movies of 2009.

Laughed so hard at times, I cried! I can't even REMEMBER the last movie that did that for me!!! Isn't that what movies are supposed to be all about?

Demetri Martin is the late-twenty-something-good-Jewish-Still-living-at-home-son, who serves as the concert's catalyst. Martin renders his role with great finesse, aplomb and stand-alone chutzpah! (Check out his resume on IMDb: What a multi-faceted talent)

But the real scene-stealer was a TOTALLY unrecognizable Imelda Staunton, as the Jewish mother from Hell! She should have at the very least received an Oscar nomination! Fascinating "Woodstock" dichotomy: Martin's character is right there, in the center of the firestorm...and yet, NOT! What a great metaphoric irony for the millions of us, who were and weren't there, either!

Despite a few flaws, a Resounding 9*********

..... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

The back story portrait of a generation coming of age

[Acolin_f · 7/10 · 30 August 2009]

Director Ang Lee has had some incredible hits (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm) and misses (Hulk). His latest is somewhere in between.

The 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most pivotal epochs in popular music history.

Lee takes the risky gamble of making a movie however, which is NOT about the music and the concerts. Instead, Taking Woodstock is inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber and his family, who inadvertently play a pivotal role in making the famed festival into the pivotal event it was. What you get instead is an up-close and personal look at the seminal happening that changed lives, not just of popular music and culture, but of the people involved with it, especially Tibor and his family.

Anchored between the Chicago riots at the Democratic convention, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the disastrous Rolling Stone concert at Altamont and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Woodstock was the vibrant blossoming of 60's liberalism. It marks a decade that transformed a generation of young American adults, popular music, liberal culture and politics. Unbeknownst to them, it was the beginning of the end.

Taking Woodstock tells the back story of the beginnings and the end of life as Tibor and his family know it. If you are interested in some of the details of Woodstock and not the concert, you will enjoy this movie. No need to spend $10 to see it in the movie theater though, HT is enough.

Other than the interesting back story to Woodstock, a few things stand out in this movie:

1 – Concert producer Michael Lang is unbelievably cool. Think James Bond with an Afro. Think Jesus on a white horse surveying a muddy field after a battle. 2 – Six foot, four inch Liev Schreiber (Scream trilogy, The Manchurian Candidate, Defiance, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as a compassionate 240 pound transvestite. 3 – Yet another incredible performance from Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Vera Drake) as Tibor's cantankerous and greedy mother.

Cant Reach Beyond Mediocrity

[giantpanther · 3/10 · 22 September 2009]

As a fan of Ang Lee, Dimitri Martin, and Emile Hirsch I decided to ignore all of the reviews that said this movie wasn't that great. I hoped for the best that they were wrong, critics have been wrong before, so this wasn't all wishful thinking for me.

Anyways I was let down, this movie was cheesy it had all these moments that were supposed to be of great importance but they just didn't live up to that. This is one of those movies that really could have been great, it was knocking on the door of greatness but too many of the pieces didn't fit. I felt that a number of the actors thought that they were in a different film everyone was playing to their own beat and because of that we were left with a largely unbalanced movie.

One of the weakest links within this film was the role of Michael played by Johnathan Groff, I am not saying Groff isn't talented I think he did the best with what he was given but the part all in all was ridiculous. Its played out like Groff is some kind of omniscient at peace presence within the sixties movement, the pinnacle of a chilled out zen like figure head for the woodstock movement. To me this all came off as ridiculously contrived and unrealistic, every moment he was on screen I cringed at the awkwardness that was taking place.

This movie is stuffed full of underdeveloped characters. Really the only two characters I had any attraction to were the two acid people Elliot meets on his walk to woodstock. They seemed like the types you would have run into in that time.

My respect for Ang Lee has gone down a few notches, I cant help but to wonder if he realized mid filming that this film wasn't going to work. That it was going to be a decent film but not what he had hoped for. Emile Hirsch's part as a Vietnam vet gone crazy is well meaning but simply doesn't work, I will say Emile gave this role everything he could but at the end of the day it just wasn't very well written. And he wasn't given enough time to develop this person.

Its such a shame that this movie is bad, because I truly feel that it could have been a really fantastic film going experience if only handled in a slightly different manner, not focusing on people as such blatant clichés.

All of the actors try hard, but the writing and directing were pathetic on this film.

Sweet and Muddy

[JohnDeSando · 22 August 2009]

"Even Woodstock turned out to be a disaster. Everybody was stuck in the mud and people got sick." Johnny Rivers

Without the music of Joplin, Hendrix, or Dylan this depiction of the rising energy of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival seems no more than the account of putting together any concert set in a New York meadow in the late sixties. Yet it retains the wonder of the young people, for whom freedom was truly "another word for nothing left to lose." Eliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin) is as laid back as actor Elliot Gould of that era, helping his parents navigate the daunting sea of troubles for a concert on their Catskills farm that will host hundreds of thousands of hippies and hoodlums, all dedicated to profiting spiritually or financially from what looked like a small event until it became a part of the lexicon and imagination of the modern American rebellious age. In a way, the Teichbergs' saving their farm in White Lake, N.Y. represents the salvation of America from the horrors of Vietnam and assassinations.

Director Ang Lee, who has helmed much more powerful fare such as Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, still has a winning way with characters as he highlights their individual charms and weaknesses set against a much broader cultural canvas. Eliot can be an ambitious Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) in The Graduate; Liev Schrieber's cross-dressing Vilma comingles the sex and security of the freedom movement; Imelda Staunton's over-the-top angry mother of Eliot is a worst-case of a mother fighting change and a good actress poorly directed. Lee is at his best when he directs the crowd making fun with the mud and muck on the rain-soaked field.

The aftermath may not resemble the end of the Civil War as in Gone with the Wind, but it does have the afterglow of a culture that has had an orgasm of titanic proportions. It feels pretty good 40 years later when fighting for freedom just ain't the same.

Woodstock without Woodstock

[dierregi · 7/10 · 27 October 2009]

The most deceitful part of this movie is its title. The plot revolves around a shy, closet homosexual who must find the courage to break free from his suffocating and rather depressing parents. It is a gentle story, very well narrated but it has very little to do with Woodstock.

Elliot is gay and lives in New York but during summer he helps his family managing a dreadful "resort" up north. This crumbling down, miserable hotel is run with minimum maintenance and even less interest by his parents. Elliot's mother is the stuff a Freudian nightmare. His father sort of disappears in the picture. However, this is summer 1969 and "something" is about to happen.

Some critics mentioned the fact that the actor playing Elliott is not charismatic enough to hold attention. Personally, I think somebody too charismatic would have been a mistake. This story is supposed to be about ordinary people and it definitely does not require any star quality. In fact, everybody in the cast does a decent job and nothing bad can be said about the acting.

The problem is that many other "famous" events could have been used as a catalyst background for this story. Unfortunately, Woodstock was chosen but we do not get to see any of it or to hear any great songs. How disappointing it is to be so close to the stage and actually hear absolutely nothing? I felt cheated, as if I paid for the ticket but did not get any show.

Of course, the largest part of the public in real Woodstock must have gone through the same experience, but they probably did not care because they were stoned most of the time. What we get instead of good music is shy Elliot coming out one drunken, busy evening.

We get to see the crowds, the traffic, the mess, the lack of toilets… in short all the organizational nightmares and part of the fun, the drinking and the parties but absolutely nothing of the music. I repeat, it is amazing that a movie like this has such a drab soundtrack. The only decent song is played while end titles are running and it is a brand new one, written in 2009. Even if this is not a documentary about Woodstock, I think some original music should have been a must. Otherwise, why choosing Woodstock?

"I'm just sorry everyone in town hates our guts now."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 7 October 2018]

The movie was panned by professional and amateur critics alike when it came out because it didn't focus on the music. If that's what you want, might as well go for the real thing with the actual "Woodstock" film that came out a year after the 'Aquarian Music and Arts Festival" was held. What surprises me as I come to this picture on IMDb, is that there are more reviews for this one than there is for the 'real thing' (73 to 69 as I write this)! Seriously, for those complaining, see the original.

I guess that's one of the reason I held off watching for so long until today, so in a way I'm somewhat guilty of my own criticism. But with all the junk I've watched and reviewed on IMDb in recent years, I didn't see how viewing the film would be a time waster. And I'm actually glad I did, as it brought back a lot of the memories of fifty years ago, growing up in a small town about fifty miles from Bethel, New York. The local hype had a way of accelerating the further you drove up Route 17 into the Catskills, until, as you observe in the picture, the local roads and highways become virtual parking lots. It's always difficult to know how much of a picture 'inspired by a true story' is actually real or not, but the way Elliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin) and his family are portrayed in the film is probably pretty close. Completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of humanity that descended on this small, rural community, one can only gaze on in fascination as the event takes on a life of it's own with laid back promoter Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) keeping an open mind and taking it all in stride.

One quirky thing about the casting for this picture - for a while I thought that Robert De Niro might have been lurking under the scraggly beard of Elli's father Jake, but it turned out to be actor Henry Goodman. Seems to me he could be a De Niro stand-in. Imelda Staunton makes it easy for the viewer to dislike Elli's Mom, right up until that scene where she and Jake get the Woodstock vibe from a batch of marijuana brownies. That was a cool scene, as was Liv Schreiber's take on Viet Nam vet Vilma von Vetta; try saying that ten times fast. For his part, Demetri Martin seemed to be in over his head as an actor portraying Elliot, and maybe that was the idea, because most anyone caught up in the local hysteria would have been mind numbed to some degree.

So if I were to recommend the picture, it would be with the proviso to see 1970's "Woodstock" as well, either before or after so as not to miss out on the concert experience. In which case, the irony of a statement from one of the concert organizers is given added resonance - "Hey, it's August. It's not gonna rain."

Gets better, but still: missed opportunity

[Alexander-Alexandrov · 6/10 · 22 February 2021]

With my second watching, my experience changed towards a more positive stance. Having seen the original documentary footage of Woodstock, I came to appreciate this film much more. I enjoyed discovering the many scenes relating to the 1970 documentary (e.g. the theatre group, the guy shaving in the lake, the split screen, the toilet cleaning guy or the three nuns). I also enjoyed the soundtrack, including some of the original acts. I also fancied the fact, that at some points the original concert music was included as was the case with Richie Havens singing "Freedom". Apart from the many positive aspects of the film, there is still something missing to make this film a more memorable experience. In my opinion, the greatest problem of the film is that to a large extent the concert itself is not sufficiently depicted. The film concentrates too much on what surrounds the festival (setting up and organising the festival), but leaves out much of the musical aspect. This is definitely not an easy task to achieve. But this is something I would expect when watching a film with such a promising title.

Tangential coming of age story works better than narrative about direct Woodstock participants

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 16 October 2011]

Up to a point, 'Taking Woodstock' really isn't such a bad film and I wonder what the reasons were for those people who positively hated it. There seem to be a group who were offended that Ang Lee didn't show any scenes of the actual concert or tried to recreate it by having actors playing some of the famous performers like Hendrix or Janis Joplin, singing their songs up on the stage. But what would have been the point of showing any of the actual concert scenes? If you're dying for some nostalgia, then you can buy the DVD of the original concert itself.

There's also the bigger issue of the source material itself--Elliot Tiber's memoir, 'Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life.' Tiber's claim that he introduced Michael Lang, one of the principal Woodstock Festival promoters, to Max Yasgur (who owned the farm where the festival was held), appears to be completely false. In addition, the concert promoters did not appear to use the family motel as a sort of headquarters for their operations. Even if that didn't happen, it's not at all implausible that it COULD have happened, so I think it's fine that a little suspension of disbelief here does not damage the overall impact of the film.

'Taking Woodstock' really isn't about Woodstock at all. It's a coming of age story where the music festival acts as both a backdrop and catalyst, driving the principal characters forward in their emotional journey. The protagonist, Elliot Tiber (named Teichberg in the film), is in his mid-30s and remains with his parents, pouring his own money into a run-down family-owned motel in upstate New York. They have until the end of the summer to pay off the mortgage or the bank will foreclose on the property.

Elliot's problem is his obnoxious, overbearing Jewish mother, Sonia (well played by the classically trained British actor, Imelda Staunton). She portrays herself as a perennial victim of anti-Semitism and pushes her passive, goodhearted husband, Jake, around at every turn. One thing she is right about: the pretentious theater group that inhabits the barn on their property, is a constant thorn in their side as they're unable to pay any rent.

The best part of 'Taking Woodstock' is the arrival of Michael Lang and his entourage of businessmen who intend to make Woodstock a reality. Jonathan Groff is perfectly cast as promoter Lang, the hippie-businessman, who maintains a constant beatific grin on his face while doling out gobs of cash. It's Elliot, in his position as the head of the local Chamber of Commerce, who informs Lang that he can give the promoters a permit to hold a music festival; the problem is that his own land is found to be a useless swamp. Elliot then introduces Lang to Max Yasgur, (with Eugene Levy also perfectly cast as the tough but liberal farmer) who has the perfect spread for the music festival.

The first hour of the film proceeds seamlessly with additional twists and turns: Elliot tries to help Billy, a local Vietnam Vet who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder; Elliot's mother drops her objections to the Festival organizers staying at the motel when Elliot drops a bag of cash in front of her, given to him by the promoters; Lev Schreiber plays Vilma, a trans-gender Korean War Veteran, who's hired as a security guard, eventually warding off hostile locals as the hippies invade the local area; despite the local opposition, business people in the area (along with Elliot's parents) see huge profits from the influx of all the young people and Elliot ends up kissing a gay construction worker at a wild party, foreshadowing his decision to come out of the closet.

At the behest of his father, Elliot decides to go see the festival himself and encounters a State Trooper who confesses that he was planning to come to the festival to "bust some hippies' heads" but "guesses" he's been sidetracked by "all the fumes". The trooper amiably offers Elliot a ride on his motorcycle through the backed up traffic, near where the concert is going on. Ang Lee wisely never has Elliot arrive at the stage area which was probably the experience of thousands who never actually got to see the event close up.

Ang Lee interestingly doesn't sugarcoat the festival's appearance, as the weather conditions end up turning it into a virtual mud fest. At the same time, Lee views Woodstock as having had a positive effect on most of its participants. Elliot in particular, has a transformational experience, inside a VW bus with a hippie couple after taking a few hits of LSD. When he returns to the motel, Elliot realizes that his mother hasn't changed at all after he discovers that she's been hoarding money for years and could have paid off the mortgage long before he began helping his parents. On the bright side, Elliot's father feels he's found a second youth as a result of Woodstock and father and son find they're able to bond at film's end.

It's clear that the second half of 'Taking Woodstock' isn't as good as the first. A big problem is that Elliot's internal conflict is not clear until the film's end where he recognizes that he's gay and must leave upstate New York and find a new life. The denouement might have been more effective if the second half of the film wasn't so slow moving. Particularly problematic are all those 'split-scene' scenes as well as the amount of time it takes for Elliot to wander off from his 'nest' at the motel, sojourn into the 'wilderness' (a psychedelic journey) and return to his cocoon, which is no longer the same.

'Taking Woodstock' is by no means a great movie; but wisely the tangential coming of age story works much better than an unfocused tribute to anonymous festival participants.

A loving and lovely tribute to a brief moment in time

[Michael Fargo · 10/10 · 29 August 2009]

Perhaps more than most films, you'll either get this or you won't. Ang Lee seems to have conjured up the past with an accuracy that most filmmakers would spoil with reverence. Through a series of vignettes and very small references to Wadleigh's 1970 documentary, "Woodstock," a legendary moment in culture gets celebrated with a sweetness that was part of the era that quickly evaporated.

I was reminded of the film "Dirty Dancing" not just in the setting but in the tone. Ang Lee keeps the humor from becoming too broad in depiction of the locals whose lives were about to up-ended in a way that no one anticipated but few would not welcome. The actors in particular find a common level to play with that draws the audience into the excitement. We know what will happen, but as the momentum builds to the actual event the audience is swept away just as the characters in the film are.

The key character, a very unimposing Demetri Martin, never falters in this coming-of-age story that mirrors the culture changes swirling around him. He gives a very strong performance and is virtually never off the screen.

I had read that the "main event" isn't recreated, and that's partially true. However, we "see" what most of the actual participants of the event saw of the performances on a stage set up in a cow field. It's a stunning moment in the film and as magical as the experience must have been. I was roughly the same age as the character, struggling with the changes of adolescence at a moment in time when there really weren't road-maps for the future. While I was far away from the East Coast, this event reached me in many of the same ways as the characters in the film. I suppose for most people my age that was also true.

While I flinched a few times when a "plot" would intrude into this whole dazzling work, it served the purpose for the power and point of the final moments: Standing in the muddy aftermath the hope of what was going to happen next was palpable for a whole generation, but the next event, Altamont with the Rolling Stones, ended it all with crushing horror. Yet, the optimism is still alive, I think. Equality for many racial and sexual minorities were fulfilled…or are being so fulfilled at this time…and one of the more ironic points of the film was actually scored during the trailers that preceded the feature: the previews for Michael Moore's "Capitalism" and that subject is what really ended the counterculture.

But for Ang Lee he gives the 40th Anniversary of the Woodstock festival an original and unsentimental celebration. (And if hippies annoy you, this isn't the film you need to see.)

Underwhelming filmaking by Ang Lee

[Nighthawk1 · 6/10 · 16 July 2010]

I expected more from Ang Lee. The movie depicts the spirit and atmosphere of Woodstock and the corresponding time period. The problem is that the movie is too quirky and not dramatic enough. The acting is alright but the script is sub-par. Additionally it feels unpolished and rough around the edges and not dramatic enough. Maybe it was the way the director wanted the movie to come across. The movie didn't fully come together and left me feeling unsatisfied at its conclusion. Ang Lee has direct many great movies in the past; this isn't one of them. Its not his worst though. Hulk is his worst. The movie isn't great it isn't terrible either.

Forgettable

[LeaBlacks_Balls · 4/10 · 21 February 2010]

A gay Jewish guy manages to get the Woodstock festival to take place in his sleepy town in upstate New York, unaware of the cultural significance the event will gain. While dealing with permits, hippies, war vets, and angry locals, he meets various weird characters, the most interesting being a drag queen played by Liev Shreiber.

What hurts this film is it's insistence on following a boring character around instead of focusing on more interesting people, and clocking in at two hours, it takes too long to tell its story. Also, the usually great Imelda Staunton plays the grossest, most stereotypical Jewish person I've seen on film, who literally cannot control herself around money.

The 'Woodstock' documentary remains the best window into this historic concert.

Does a great job of focusing on the side story, rather than the obvious big picture.

[blackmambamark · 8/10 · 30 August 2009]

I like how director Ang Lee offers something different with every film. The first tim ei laid my eyes upon his work was with 2003's "Hulk".....now a lot of people hated that movie, but i found it very enjoyable. Then of course there is "Brokeback Mountain", in which i found it rather bland. But his last movie, "Lust Caution" was probably the one i disliked the most. However, each of his films are very different......no, not just with their stories, but the way they are each presented.......and in my eye, he presents them very well. And honestly, i cannot wait to see him take a hack at a period piece such as Woodstock. Here is something i liked more than anything in the movie.......rather than WOW you with awesome music, or have them cut the camera away to show Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix.......they actually focus on the how this all came together, which was great......because not only was the story very entertaining, but it created this essence about the concert, that it was something far off in the distance that you would never see, and you only heard people talking about it......i mean you obviously know now what it was all about.....but it takes you on this incredible journey of this small town family, and when you finally get a small glimpse of the concert......oh my goodness, it was enough to take your breathe away. Mainl because you see all this preparation, and all these people.....you want to see what all this fuss is about, but it never goes deep inside, and that is what i loved about this movie. It focused its lense on the people to the side, the ones who were the most important, and it showed how they viewed this concert. But the one thing that i must talk about is the scene when our main character first arrives at the actual field......hence, the acid phase. Now im sure you have seen some cool stuff in other movies like "Fear in Loathing" or "Yellow Submarine", because i surely have........but i can assure you this.......that was probably the realist acid trip ever caught on camera. At times, i literally had to look away from the screen and wipe the drool off my face, because it was too real. It captures the feeling of being at an actual festival, better than anything i have ever seen on film before. Job well done in that department. Bottom Line.......great movie. That is it. Now im sure most of you want the whole, hey lets meet the bands and what not......if you want that, you can watch a million documentaries about it on VH1. But this movie takes you on a much different trip. One that i actually liked. Let's face it.....i have lived that life, and it is now gone from me........but it certainly created those old feelings in my soul once more. Fantastic period piece. Easily my favorite Ang Lee film to date.

An interesting little ditty, sort of a docu-comedy

[Bernie4444 · 6/10 · 12 February 2024]

First off, this is not a Woodstock documentary. It is a story that just happens to center around the event. The film is an adaptation, so it has a general script to follow and still has to adjust to becoming a visual experience. Some people were added others were combined for brevity.

Not saying you will appreciate the movie any better, but you definitely need to watch the voice-over commentary to see what was trying to be produced.

I thought it was cute but nothing worth re-watching. Not that I would ever take those substances that were imbibed in the movie, however, this was a much more accurate rendition than the earlier movies attempted to portray.

The introduction of the Character returning from Vietnam was for the movie and a tad over the top. However, I had just come back myself as was stationed at West Point (not too far away). I made it to the muddy parts but never to the stage. Other people may have been virtuous however, I know someone who made a bundle on selling a combination of oregano and tea mixture (which smell similar to other substances).

Anyway, I applaud the effort to make this film. I just do not see it having any social redeeming quality.

Well, one exception "No stuping in the bushes," Sonia Teichberg.

I only saw the Blu-ray version so could not compare it to other versions.

I hope Hollywood will stop cheating us with this style of storytelling someday.

[joestank15 · 4/10 · 3 September 2009]

Taking Woodstock - Ang Lee's skewered look at the most notorious concert of all time from the point of view of...wait for it...the kid who organized it and never actually watched the concert. Sounds like a blast right? I had almost as much fun at this film as I did at Jarhead back in '05. Do not go to this film if you want to hear music from the actual concert. The main character taunts us by carelessly mentioning the bands and singers at the start of the film, and we never see/hear any of them.

Stealing the thunder of the most famous concert of our time is Eliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin), sporting a hairstyle and personality straight out of a Wes Anderson film. His journey is just plain not interesting. It sounds like it would be more interesting to have read the real person's book, where he meets numerous famous people and gets involved in riots for being a homosexual. That sounds like a better film than one that constantly cheats an audience out of a great concert in exchange for Jethro Tull. My guess is that they simply couldn't get the rights.

It's a film that focuses on all the wrong things. It focuses on sneaking gay love under our noses rather than making any sort of statement, as the actual writer did, about it. A film that spends more time on the preparation involved in preparing a space for a million and a half people to watch a concert, as opposed to the concert itself. I was reminded once of Kevin Smith doing stand-up and explaining why he would never direct an action film. His version of "The Green Hornet" would have involved the guys sitting around and talking about dick jokes. They see a fight occurring off-screen and go break it up, then go back to dishing about movies and whatnot. This is that equivalent.

I could give the film points for the way it sweetly delivers nudity and intimacy of both hetero and homosexual variety, but I instantly take those away for the offensive Jewish stereo-typing of Imelda Staunton's character, Mrs. Teichberg, as a money grubbing witch. She is a stereotype and worse, a two-dimensional one. The hippies, too, are exactly what you would expect. I guess Elliot was the only normal guy experiencing a life-changing event. Only Liev Schreiber salvages some entertainment value as a witty crossdresser.

I never knew Woodstock could be so dull, tame and boring. D+

A Nutshell Review: Taking Woodstock

[DICK STEEL · 6/10 · 3 October 2009]

I always find a certain magnetism with the 60s being portrayed on screen, with the likes of the hippie movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, rock and roll, the list just goes on. It does seem like a definitive time on the loss of innocence, and Lee Ang's movie Taking Woodstock takes a look at the formation of the Woodstock music festival, based upon the memoirs written by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte titled "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life".

Demetri Martin plays Elliot Tiber, the protagonist of the story whom Fate had chosen to have led his sleepy town into hosting this iconic music festival. However the journey in getting there is nothing quite expected, and surreal even as it transformed the landscape of his parent's dilapidated El Monaco Motel in White Lake, Bethel, along with his neighbour's vast farmland which will become the venue of a memorable 3 day festival of music and peace in 1969.

An interior designer who can't seem to lead his own life, no thanks to his parents playing their cards right in evoking a sense of helplessness, we learn that Elliot has to plough into his savings to keep their "international resort" afloat from creditors, as well as spending his free time helping out in the family business. Then comes this huge money making opportunity when one plays host, and soon enough, with the publicity cranking and the hippies a- coming, it translates to cash registers ringing non-stop, and it seemed that all his troubles had vanished in one fell swoop.

It's interesting to see the amount of schmoozing that goes on behind the scenes in negotiating for rights, approvals and permissions, and the hypocrisy that goes along with it when the townsfolk are overcome by their disgust for the hippies and squarely blames Elliot for the undesirable elements invading their serene estates, but on the other hand they never fail to profiteer in charging their visitors sky-high prices for the most basic needs, like water.

I didn't see how this film could be classified as a comedy, unless of course one counts laughing at some of the antics the characters get themselves into, or at the actors that put up a superb job in playing them. Eugene Levy shines with that glint in his eye in not wanting to be short-changed by the visiting businessmen, and Liev Schreiber's role in drag as Vilma was a hoot as well, hired as Elliot's security personnel when thugs try to make things difficult for his parents. Emile Hirsch as a disillusioned and crazed Vietnam-vet was somewhat of a let down with his frequent unfunny f-bombs, but the real scene stealers here were the characters of Elliot's aged parents Sonia and Jake, played by Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman respectively. They chew up the screen each time they're on with their performance, especially the former as a cranky old lady doesn't flinch at being nasty to her customers, and having a siege mentality and a knack for making money. If anything, her role alone is a one woman tour-de-force, and is worth the price of an admission ticket.

If you're expecting Lee Ang to recreate and feature music from Woodstock, then you're looking for the wrong film and would be better off with the documentary Woodstock. Here, you don't see the class acts that take up the stage, nor do you see anything else of the iconic event other than its preparation stage, and strained sounds from the background as we follow Elliot around the venue. It's akin to being shut out from the concert, but with so many other things going around the sprawling, muddy grounds, the real action is on the outside anyway as far as the film is concerned.

It's a look into the workings of a small town community which sees the coming of some half a million people as opportunity for some fleecing, and about how family members sometimes take things for granted, worse if being deliberate about it for selfish reasons, which provided the real sucker punch for this memoir picture.

Perspective shuts out the universe.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 1 July 2019]

Comedian / actor Demetri Martin plays Elliot Teichberg, the son of immigrant hotel owners Jake (Henry Goodman) and Sonia (Imelda Staunton). They live in the upper New York State area of White Lake, and fate drops a truly intriguing prospect into Elliots' lap. He's been looking for ways to bring tourists and revenue to the area, and there are individuals looking to launch a massive series of rock concerts. Of course, he's unprepared for a lot of the developments that come from so much activity and so many people in the area.

Overall, this is a pretty good slice-of-American-life drama (with some comedic touches) that will naturally have the most resonance for any viewer who actually lived through this era, especially those that got to witness the events taking place. Director Ang Lee does a good job re-creating various sights and sounds of rural America circa 1969, and does it without resorting to using any archive footage. This may come as a disappointment to some viewers, but clearly here the cause is to focus on the people that were on the periphery of the action, and not all of the major players.

Martin is appealing in the lead role, although, truth be told, his character is not the most interesting one in the picture. Goodman and Staunton are the heart and soul of the picture as the parents; she's so uptight it's hilarious. Eugene Levy also has a good role as an affable local dairy farmer who's willing to rent out the large amount of land that he owns. There's a good variety of capable and familiar actors on hand, although some of them don't get that much to do: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Emile Hirsch, Adam LeFevre, Dan Fogler, Jonathan Groff (another standout as the charismatic concert organizer Michael Lang), Mamie Gummer, Richard "John-Boy" Thomas, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano, Kelli Garner.

The soundtrack is pretty damn eclectic, the use of the various New York State locations is impressive, and overall "Taking Woodstock" takes an interesting approach to real-life history by focusing on background players (the concerts certainly were well documented in their time).

The film was released in 2009 to coincide with Woodstocks' 40th anniversary, and now here we are, 50 years later, an appropriate time for this viewer to check out this affectionate little tribute.

Seven out of 10.