This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival. It’s odd that a film celebrating the monumental event neglects the most important feature of the festival: music. You’ll see weed, sex and plenty of long hair, but no more than a hint of music here.
“Taking Woodstock,” Ang Lee’s first American film since “Brokeback Mountain” in 2005, tells of Elliot Teichberg (comedian Demetri Martin in his first leading role), a stay-at-home son in White Lake, N.Y. Essentially living in a ghost town, Elliot helps his parents maintain a deteriorating motel, one so prehistoric even hand towels cost a dollar extra. The business is all but dead, and the Teichbergs are struggling to make rent. The year is 1969, and Elliot is conflicted, caught in between the state of his family and the state of his own life.
Soon, news spreads of a music festival in the area, and Elliot is quick to offer his family’s “future casino and resort” as a venue. The festival is called Woodstock, and we get to see how the now famous music festival unfolds into something bigger than anyone ever imagined.
The film is slowly set up, and I didn’t care about the Teichberg family struggle. I just wanted to see Woodstock begin.
It takes patience, but if you can sit through the lumbering setup, you’ll be mostly pleased with the second half of the film.
Lee, a proven director known for his love of quiet, scenic long shots, experiments with different storytelling methods, including splitting the screen into halves — at one point even fifths — to try to freshen up the pace of the picture.
The most effective technique is when Elliot tries acid for the first time. Lee saturates the screen with Elliot’s perspective and shows how the concert could be perceived as a rolling sea — it’s the best part of the film.
Apart from the rolling sea scene, Lee tries too hard to sell the film. It opens with a shot of pink wildflowers, clothes are tight and itchy, and “groovy,” “far out” and “good vibes” all are uttered before the festival even begins. There also are a number of obvious commentaries about society today — including one about bottled water — that seem odd and out of place.
Also odd and out-of-place are a majority of the cameos throughout the movie. Emile Hirsch is convincing as Billy, a Vietnam veteran — as cliché as his character might be — but Liev Schrieber and Paul Dano stick out like sore thumbs.
The acting isn’t the main problem I had with “Taking Woodstock,” though. The major flaw is that it’s a film without an emotional core. Elliot only hints at his unhappiness with his family until a somewhat forced intervention with his parents toward the end of the film.
On top of that, there isn’t any love interest or main goal for Elliot to pursue. And again, there rarely is any talk of music throughout the picture. Where is all the music? It’s a film about Woodstock; you’d think they’d include at least a few music-related scenes. A Woodstock film without music?
The film’s characters feel like miniature cardboard cutouts awkwardly placed on an enormous stage. Sure, watching Martin trip out on acid is entertaining, but “Taking Woodstock” could’ve been much more.
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