Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940267.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

By TODD MCCARTHY
May 16, 2009

A Focus Features release. (International sales: Focus Features Intl.,
London.) Produced by James Schamus, Ang Lee, Celia Costas. Executive
producer, Michael Hausman.
Directed by Ang Lee. Screenplay, James Schamus, based on the book
"Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life" by
Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte.

Elliot Teichberg - Demetri Martin
Devon - Dan Fogler
Jake Teichberg - Henry Goodman
Michael Lang - Jonathan Groff
Max Yasgur - Eugene Levy
Dan - Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Sonia Teichberg - Imelda Staunton
Billy - Emile Hirsch
Vilma - Liev Schreiber
John Roberts - Skylar Astin
Jackson Spiers - Kevin Chamberlin
VW Girl - Kelli Garner
VW Guy - Paul Dano
Joel Rosenman - Daniel Eric Gold
Tisha - Mamie Gummer
British Gentleman - Edward Hibbert
Mel - Steven Kunken
Bob - Andy Prosky
Stan - Kevin Sussman
Reverend Don - Richard Thomas
Paul - Darren Pettie

Gentle, genial and about as memorable as a mild reefer high, "Taking
Woodstock" takes a backdoor approach to revisit the landmark musical
weekend through the antics and efforts of some of the people who made
it happen. A sort of let's-put-on-a-show summer-camp lark for
director Ang Lee after the dramatic rigors of "Brokeback Mountain"
and "Lust, Caution," the picture serves up intermittent pleasures but
is too raggedy and laid-back for its own good, its images evaporating
nearly as soon as they hit the screen. Set for release in August on
the 40th anniversary of the event, the Focus release looks like a
mild B.O. contender.

Completely endorsing the sanctified view of Woodstock as the one,
brief, shining moment of the Age of Aquarius before it all got
painted black four months later at Altamont, James Schamus' script
focuses rather too much on how the experience liberated and
transformed local fellow Elliot Teichberg, who, under the name Elliot
Tiber, wrote the book that inspired the film. Teichberg played a
crucial role in making the festival happen at all, having stepped in
when the original permit was revoked to contact event producer
Michael Lang and provide a base of operation at his parents' ramshackle motel.

Given the film's vast canvas and ambition to provide a kaleidoscopic
portrait of a generational movement, Elliot's personal issues -- his
feelings of responsibility to his immigrant parents, closeted gay
status and general behavioral uptightness -- seem unduly magnified in
relation to everything else that's going on. As played by comedian
Demetri Martin, Elliot (who in real life was 34 at the time, older
than the "generation" in question) is a mild-mannered, unassertive
guy without much electricity as a central screen presence. In the
role's conception and casting, Elliot is clearly patterned after
Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate," but the effect
isn't remotely the same.

Elliot -- who's returned to the Catskills from his career as a
painter/designer in New York to help bail his parents out with
mortgage problems on their dilapidated El Monaco Motel -- has no idea
what he's getting into when he uses his influence to greenlight a
local "music and arts festival." A counterculture theater company
occupies his parents' barn but, as soon as cagey producer Lang
(newcomer Jonathan Groff, in a very effective turn) shows up, the
hippie invasion begins in earnest; the boost in tourism even inspires
Mom and Pop (Brit thesps Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton) to spruce
up the motel.

Although some local opposition still tries to block the festival,
there's no stopping the tide once dairy farmer Max Yasgur (Eugene
Levy) opens up his 600-acre property. A crude mob attempt to extort
protection money from the Teichbergs is nipped in the bud by a macho
ex-Marine in a dress and blond wig (a nice turn by Liev Schreiber),
embittered Vietnam vet Billy (Emile Hirsch) tries to figure out how
to reconcile with all this peace and love stuff, and Elliot dares to
publicly express his affection for a hunky construction worker.

Despite being temporally defined by the run-up to the fest and the
weekend itself, the pic has a formless, unstructured feel, as its
attention jumps from incident to incident in almost random fashion.
Some distantly heard music serves notice that Woodstock itself has
begun, but the stage is only ever glimpsed from atop a faraway hill.
The musical performances are clearly not the subject of the film, but
there's no denying that their absence makes "Taking Woodstock" feel
oddly incomplete; the table is set, but the meal never gets served.

Instead, Lee delivers a couple of setpieces intended to convey the
magnitude and essence of the moment. The first involves a long ride
by Elliot on a police motorcycle that slowly proceeds through a mass
of vehicles and humanity on the road leading to the concert site;
it's a lovely, visually overflowing scene, marked by an almost eerie
sense of calm and peacefulness, and one that would have been welcome
at considerably greater length. The other is a climactic acid trip
taken by Elliot in the company of two comically mellow hippies (Paul
Dano, Kelli Garner) that allows Elliot to view the landscape of
500,000 people below him as undulating waves of humanity.

Inclined more to personal than societal politics, the film keeps the
parade of history in the background (the moon landing, Vietnam and
Middle East tensions are glimpsed on television). Other than the
oddly extended attention devoted to the harsh irascibility of
Elliot's unbendingly greedy mother, pic is pleasant enough on a
moment-to-moment basis, but the separate sketches never coalesce into
anything like a full group portrait.

Convincingly scruffy thesps look like the cast of the "Hair" revival
multiplied by hundreds, and the period re-creation is credible, both
in fashions and speech, with a couple of exceptions in the latter case.

More than one option
(Person) Michael Hausman
Script Supervisor, Assistant Director, Executive Producer
(Person) Michael Hausman
Song
More than one option
(Person) Michael Lang
Actor
(Person) Michael Lang
(Person) Michael Lang
Consultant, Music, Music Performer
(Person) Michael Lang
Actor
(Person) Michael Lang
Transportation Captain
(Person) Michael Lang
Associate Producer, Producer

Camera (Deluxe color), Eric Gautier; editor, Tim Squyres; music,
Danny Elfman; production designer, David Gropman; art director, Peter
Rogness; set decorator, Ellen Christiansen De Jonge; costume
designer, Joseph G. Aulisi; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Drew Kunin;
supervising sound editors, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton;
re-recording mixers, Reilly Steele, Gearty; visual effects
supervisor, Brendan Taylor; visual effects, Mr. X Inc.; associate
producers, Patrick Cupo, David Sauers; assistant director, Michael
Hausman; casting, Avy Kaufman. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival
(competing), May 15, 2009. Running time: 120 MIN.

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