Taking Woodstock: Movie Review

Taking Woodstock: Movie Review

Taking Woodstock
Rating 6/10
Cast: Demetri Martin, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Liev Schreiber
Director: Ang Lee
Woodstock's all the rage again forty years on.
This time, the latest from Ang Lee is based on the autobiography Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Eliot Teichberg which details how Woodstock actually took place.
Demetri Martin plays Teichberg, the local lynchpin of the business community of White Lake, whose parents (Goodman and Staunton) own and run a local motel.
When the Woodstock festival's moved on from its planned site, it turns out Teichberg has the only musical permit offered in the region, which he proffers up to the Woodstock Festival organisers so they have somewhere to come and play.
While his decision could be Teichberg's making, some of the White Lake community (and his parents initially) fear the tidal wave of hippies could signal the end to their lives.
Having been fortunate enough to be around the Glastonbury Festival for five years, I was able to appreciate how Ang Lee's done a great job of showing the reality of hosting a festival and the ensuing melee.
Taking Woodstock is as close to the chaos among the ideal as you're ever going to see - and how good intentions may not always mean a festival becomes reality.
Martin has an easy going charm as Teichberg who at times, appears to be the calm in the storm as the festival chaos begins - although you're never quite sure whether he's actually in control or a bystander to the festival organisers.
And the supporting cast are equally as good - even if Imelda Staunton's henpecking mother is a little too much; Henry Goodman is great as father Jake and Liev Schreiber is very good as a cross- dressing former soldier turned security guard.
Despite an initial warming to the character, Ang Lee somehow manages to wrongfoot himself by over-egging the family tension of overbearing mother and timid son and his burgeoning growth as he decides to flee the coup.
And unfortunately it's this which detracts from Taking Woodstock overall - Lee does a superb job of evoking the atmosphere of the festival spirit of peace and love by swooping in and out of the crowds.
Yet when it comes to dealing with the more human side of the story, he's hamfisted and seems to sledge hammer in some of the family conflict - whereas earlier in the film, it's been done with a subtle and understated touch (and much the better for it) - and earlier plots which show conflict in the town simply fizzle away like a damp squib.
Like any trip, Taking Woodstock has a comedown and the last 20 minutes of the film are that low as the family trauma kicks in.

Taking Woodstock deserves to be seen as no other film I've seen has yet to capture the spectacular feeling of joie de vivre you get at any festival - it's just a shame Ang Lee wasn't content to leave it at that.