Film

Taking Woodstock (review / trailer)

09th November 2009

"If you can remember Woodstock, you weren't there" - or so the saying goes.

Thank goodness then for Oscar-winning director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Schamus, who collaborate once again on this recreation of the music festival that defined a generation.

Rather than recreate the myriad music performances, the film unfolds through the eyes of the Jewish family who invited hundreds of thousands of music-loving strangers to their sleepy corner of Bethel, New York.

It's a fascinating yarn, adapted from Elliot Tiber's celebrated memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story Of A Riot, A Concert And A Life, tapping into the mood of free love and self-expression that wafted over the east coast that summer of '69.

Elliot (Martin) - born Teichberg, but who later changes his surname to Tiber - returns home to his hen-pecked father Jake (Goodman) and harridan mother Sonia (Staunton) to help save the family's ailing motel business.

Learning that a music festival is looking for a suitable location, Elliot contacts its organiser Michael Lang (Groff) and puts him in touch with Max Yasgur (Levy), who owns a neighbouring farm.

With money and contracts agreed, the Woodstock committee takes up residence at the dilapidated El Monaco Motel as a steady stream of hippies passes through the town.

Locals are horrified. "They will be high during the day and raping cows at night," one resident snaps at Elliot.

Cross-dressing bodyguard Vilma (Schreiber) provides valuable protection from local hoods as Elliot finds the strength to embrace his homosexuality with handsome construction worker Paul (Pettie) and to be the man he always wanted to be.

Taking Woodstock is handsomely crafted, as you would expect from Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain) but his new film lacks that vital spark.

Stand-up comedian Martin is an interesting casting choice for the laconic leading man, but he is upstaged by dreamy newcomer Groff and a scenery-chewing Staunton, who is never short of a sharp word for anyone who crosses her, such as the bank manager who refuses her extra credit after years of custom.

From a purely technical perspective, Lee's film is a triumph, interweaving iconography from the era around moments of pure artistic licence.

A sequence in which Elliot sits pillion on a policeman's motorcycle and weaves through hundreds of cars that have reduced the highway to a mile-long parking lot must have been a logistical nightmare, but looks astounding on the big screen.

Like Elliot, we're in awe of his father, who has managed to withstand the rants without losing his patience.

"How have you done it? How have you lived with her for 40 years?" asks the son.

"I love her," replies the old man. Simple as that.

Taking Woodstock is in local cinemas from November 13.

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