Taking Woodstock Movie Review

Written by Greg VictorcloseAuthor: Greg Victor Name: Greg Victor
Email: Greg@parcbench.com
Site:
About: Greg Victor (Parcbench Culture Editor) is a historian, pop culture critic, and theatrical dramaturg and has stage managed theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour, including Billy Joel's "Movin' Out", Monty Python's "Spamalot" and more.See Authors Posts (98) on September 8, 2009

* * (Two stars out of 4)
Rating: R (strong language, nudity, recreational drug use)
Director: Ang Lee

It should be titled “Faking Woodstock.” Take away the legends (Janis Joplin, Jimmie Hendrix, The Who, heck – even Sha Na Na), take away the music itself, take away the sense that something seismic was happening with no one knowing the outcome or who was guiding it. Take away the documentary aspect of the film “Woodstock,” and what do you have left? Apparently not a lot.

For the most part, the movie passes itself off as a comedy. At least things certainly start that way, as we are introduced to the unfolding Woodstock happening through the eyes of an unlikely participant. Eventually though, much like the concert, things get out of control and we are left with a sprawling mess of a movie.

As they say about the 1960s – if you remember them, then you weren’t there. So throw in a director (Ang Lee) who wasn’t there and doesn’t remember them (since he was 15 and living in Taiwan), and what do you have? A pointless exercise in pseudo-nostalgia.

The movie tells the story of Elliot (played by stand-up comedy genius Demetri Martin), a guy who feels duty-bound to help his parents in their failing Catskills motel (the El Monaco), all the while attempting to break free of them. His parents are played by Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton. Liev Schrieber steals the show as an ex-Marine tranny who provides security to the family while the motel becomes the headquarters for the Woodstock commercial enterprise.

All things Woodstock make their way into the film, of course. Director Ang Lee has clearly been seduced by the 1960s, and has allowed every hippie cliché to exist in his background atmosphere; the mudsliding, the acid trip, the naked dancing, the draft-card burning… He has even inserted a few clichés which most definitely did not occur at Woodstock – such as the organized burning of bras as a political feminist action.

There are some stunning cinematic passages in the film. My favorite was a scene where the camera slowly panned up to capture for the first time the crowd of concert-goers. It literally looked like a sea of humanity, and it captured perfectly the unexpected scale the concert grew to.

Writing a review for “Taking Woodstock” is a strange experience. I remember enjoying the film as I watched it, but now I feel I did not enjoy it that much at all. It’s like experiencing the 1960s in reverse; where most people probably didn’t actually enjoy going through them, they are eager to embrace them as some sort of cultural landmark now that they are over. Is this what it’s like when the drugs wear off? Bummer.

Best line in the film: Upon seeing his parents going a bit out-of-control after they have unknowingly eaten hashish brownies, Elliot remarks “Mom, Dad – you’re Superheroes!”