“Taking Woodstock,” about how the legendary festival came together for a few days of “Peace, Love and Rock ‘n Roll” during the summer of ‘69, is a huge waste. Wasted is the chance to tell a gay acceptance story set against the backdrop of this age-defining happening. Wasted is the casting of Liev Schreiber as Vilma, a 6’3” cross-dressing marine, especially because you learn so little about his character. Wasted is a film that is supposed to celebrate the spirit of Woodstock but barely scratches the surface. You never even get close to the musicians and their music. And, finally, wasted is the two hours spent watching this movie.
Director Ang Lee does explain how Woodstock came to be, but he tells his story in a series of fragments rather than a cohesive whole and most of the scenes and characters are flat and underdeveloped. The weakest of these is both the character Elliot and the actor who plays him. Elliot is a shy fellow trying to get somewhere and never quite succeeding. And Demetri Martin is not a forceful enough presence on screen to hold our attention or make Elliot worth caring about. Luckily, Lee surrounds him with a fantastic array of actors, including Imelda Staunton, as his Russian-immigrant mother haunted by her past experiences; Henry Goodman, as his recluse father whose interaction with the hippies gives his life meaning; Schreiber; and Emile Hirsch, as a disturbed Vietnam war vet. Perhaps at the heart of “Taking Woodstock” is the coming-of-age-coming-out-of-the-closet story of Elliott, but Lee seems to keep the emotional and social implications at bay. So perhaps not. Bottom line: there’s nothing new or interesting here. 8/28/09
1 comment:
You had better know all about the Woodstock concert when you see this movie because you will find out very little about what took place there in 1969. There isn't much about the characters who participated in the music or the music itself and, I feel that "Woodstock" is all about the music, the musicians and the phenomena that was "Woodstock". The idea that they were prepared for 100,000 people to show up when actually 500,000 showed up, all you get is the fringes of "Woodstock" not the heart and soul which made it a phenomena. Go rent “3 Days of Peace & Music” a documentary about the event and you will get much more meat and potatoes. The acting of Imelda Staunton is worth going to see this film, she is superb as Eliot’s mother.
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