Taking Woodstock

 

Taking Woodstock

• Director: Ang Lee
• Seen by this director: The Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Demetri Martin, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Demetri Martin – Contagion, Flight of the Conchords
• Henry Goodman – Their Finest, Genius, London Spy, Woman in Gold, Colour Me Kubrick, Notting Hill, Cold Lazarus, Mary Reilly
• Imelda Staunton – many, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing
• Emile Hirsch – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Darkest Hour, Milk, Into the Wild
• Liev  Schreiber – The Fifth Wave, The Butler, Mental, Salt, Repo Men, The X Men, Defiance, Omen, Kate & Leopold, Hamlet
• Paul Dano - 12 Years a Slave, Prisoners, Looper, Love & Mercy, There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine
• Why? I remember enjoying it.
• Seen:  Once before. Now 15 December 2023               

       Nerdy Elliot (Martin), aspiring artist and designer, struggles to help his parents (Staunton and Goodman) keep their run-down motel afloat as well as organise culture festivals every summer. In the summer of 1969 he finds himself arranging a hippie festival called 3 Days of Peace and Music. The hippies pour in. His parents rake in the bread. He wanders around in a daze but somehow gets things done. 

    It’s part slapstick comedy, part mockumentary of behind-the-scenes at Woodstock, part cavalcade of eccentric characters.

       It’s kind of sweet that we don’t hear the actual music other than snatches in the background. If you want the music watch Woodstock – 3 days of love and music. If you want everything but the music and seeing the musicians as little ants on the stage way far away, see this.

 4* of 5