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Taking Woodstock (Film Review)
Sep. 4th, 2009 06:12 amI read somewhere that after "six depressing and/or suicidal films in a row", Ang Lee wanted to do a comedy to relax with. Now I haven't seen Lust, Caution, but I did see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, and The Incredible Hulk, and I can see his point. The result of Mr. Lee's desire to relax, I'm happy to report, is a completely unpretentious and fun comedy which in spirit goes back to his early The Wedding Banquet days. Also, to get this out of the way first, this isn't a film about the legendary Woodstock concert, and a good thing, too, because that's what you have the documunentary for. Plus recreating Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin et al. would inevitably mean every single review, professional or hobby, would focus on comparing the recreation with the original. No, Taking Woodstock is about one particular aspect of the backstory, to wit, young Elliot Teichberg (later Tiber) who after hearing the concert organization got kicked out ouf the neigbouring Wallkill offers his parents' floundering motel and backlot in White Lake (which is a swamp, but luckily local farmer Max Yasgur comes on board with providing his grounds), and with that kicks off a development that leads to the "three days of music, love and peace" (and mud, and acid...) that became iconic for the 60s. Elliot, who lived for a short while a painter and interior designer in New York but came back to help out his parents, is an engaging comedy hero who proves that "nice" isn't an equivalent of "boring", is a bit overwhelmed by what he started but gets caught up in the spirit of it all and while he's at it also comes out to his parents and his hometown. (Talk about a director's need to relax. After the agonies of Brokeback Mountain, Elliot's coming-out subplot climaxing in him simply snogging one of the stage building carpenters in public to the cheering of the hippies and the not-the-sky-falling-down from the parents must have felt great.)
The parents are played by Imelda Staunton, who is superb (and different) in every single role I've seen her in, here as a woman who could easily have been a caricature (dominating Russian-Jewish mother) but isn't, and Henry Goodman as the father; this is a wonderful ensemble film in general, with Emile Hirsch (remember him from Milk?) as Vietnam vet Billy, and Liev Schreiber as the transvestite ex-marine Vilma whom Elliot hires for security. Schreiber is another case of an actor taking a character who in lesser hands could have come across as a caricature and making said character a highlight of the film; Vilma is someone whose identity battles are already behind him/her and who is just comfortable in her body, becoming a great mentor for Elliot. Oh, and for your SPN fans, there's Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Billy's disapproving brother Dan, and no, he doesn't die in this movie. *g* The whole film is an unabashed love declaration to the (late) 60s, a complete contrast to Ang Lee's depiction of the 70s in The Ice Storm and very refreshing after the demonization and bashing of the 60s (at least the flower power part of same) from the right in the last two decades. It's full of optimism, and again, I think it was the right choice not to show any of the actual Woodstock performances, either by interjecting real footage or by trying to recreate them; Elliot never makes it that close to the stage while the concert is lasting, though he comes close enough to hear a couple of times. It doesn't matter because the joy of participating, as the Olympic cliché goes, in this film really is the main point.
Woodstock organizer Michael Lang - who in the film is both an incredibly relaxed hippie and a canny businessman - has a line in the end which if you know something about the 60s indicates the party is over. (The next concert he wants to organize is one featuring the Rolling Stones; google for the bloody results if you want.) It's the one cautious nod to the sobering up process the film makes, and a very discreet one; otherwise it's a hymn to those "damn hippies", changing times which needed changing, optimism and joy. Far out.
The parents are played by Imelda Staunton, who is superb (and different) in every single role I've seen her in, here as a woman who could easily have been a caricature (dominating Russian-Jewish mother) but isn't, and Henry Goodman as the father; this is a wonderful ensemble film in general, with Emile Hirsch (remember him from Milk?) as Vietnam vet Billy, and Liev Schreiber as the transvestite ex-marine Vilma whom Elliot hires for security. Schreiber is another case of an actor taking a character who in lesser hands could have come across as a caricature and making said character a highlight of the film; Vilma is someone whose identity battles are already behind him/her and who is just comfortable in her body, becoming a great mentor for Elliot. Oh, and for your SPN fans, there's Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Billy's disapproving brother Dan, and no, he doesn't die in this movie. *g* The whole film is an unabashed love declaration to the (late) 60s, a complete contrast to Ang Lee's depiction of the 70s in The Ice Storm and very refreshing after the demonization and bashing of the 60s (at least the flower power part of same) from the right in the last two decades. It's full of optimism, and again, I think it was the right choice not to show any of the actual Woodstock performances, either by interjecting real footage or by trying to recreate them; Elliot never makes it that close to the stage while the concert is lasting, though he comes close enough to hear a couple of times. It doesn't matter because the joy of participating, as the Olympic cliché goes, in this film really is the main point.
Woodstock organizer Michael Lang - who in the film is both an incredibly relaxed hippie and a canny businessman - has a line in the end which if you know something about the 60s indicates the party is over. (The next concert he wants to organize is one featuring the Rolling Stones; google for the bloody results if you want.) It's the one cautious nod to the sobering up process the film makes, and a very discreet one; otherwise it's a hymn to those "damn hippies", changing times which needed changing, optimism and joy. Far out.
