Woodstock Anew

Taking Woodstock

Forty years after the most iconic rock concert ever presented, we remember the music, the drugs and the mud. But does anybody remember how the promoters got the land in upstate New York in the
first place? Ang Lee, the acclaimed director of The Ice Storm and Brokeback Mountain, takes us back to the summer of ‘69 to show us how one young man’s personal revelation made that messy, crazy,
incredible weekend possible. Taking Woodstock possesses the flaws of a typical Ang Lee film and several of a Lee film’s strengths.

Based on the book by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte, the movie opens in the quiet town of Bethel, New York, not too far from the resorts in the Catskills favored by Jewish vacationers. It’s quiet, dotted with
farms, dreary motels and farmland. Elliot Teichberg is the son of two Holocaust survivors who own a dilapidated motel that saw its best days decades earlier. 

Elliot (Demetri Martin) has a flair for design and organization. Down in New York City, he’s made a bit of a living as an interior designer and longs to spread his wings by moving on, perhaps to San
Francisco, where some of his friends from the Village are heading.

Elliot is tied to his parents’ failing business by his love for them and the force of will displayed by his mother, Sadie (Imelda Staunton, Oscar nominated for her lead role in Vera Drake.) She is a stubborn
woman who charges her establishment’s guests for soap and towels. She even times how long people stay in the rooms before deciding whether or not to wash the sheets.

Elliot is also on Bethel’s town council and has tried to attract tourists to the community during previous summers with a music and arts festival. Unfortunately, the festivals have largely consisted of
records being played over a loudspeaker on land owned by dairy farmer Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy.) With the bank looking to foreclose on the Teichberg’s motel at the end of the summer and other local
businesses in desperate need of a boost, Elliot decides to gamble. 

Seeing that a nearby community has gotten cold feet and withdrawn its permit for a major rock concert over a weekend in mid-August, Elliott contacts the promoters, shows them Yasgur’s land and
produces the previously approved permit for his own festival for the promoters to use. With time running out, tens of thousands of tickets already sold and everyone working some kind of angel, Bethel
becomes the home of Woodstock and Woodstock, the concert, becomes a part of history.

James Schamus’ screenplay nibbles around the edges of the concert itself — the “what” — to tell the stories of some of the “who” and a large chunk of the “how” and “where” of Woodstock.  After a slow
start, Lee and Shamus plunge us into a whirlwind of love, peace, music, capitalism, rock and roll and cold, hard cash. Throw in angry reactions from some neighbors fearing a flood of hippies and drugs,
businessmen doubling and tripling prices and everyone from the Mob to the government trying to cut themselves in for a taste of the action and you’ve got a story that eventually picks up a good head of
stem.

Liev Schreiber also brings energy to the proceedings as Vilma, a cross dressing ex-Marine who becomes Elliott’s mentor and head of local security just as things threaten to get out of hand.  Demetri
Martin as Elliott is a likeable protagonist, a young man trying to be true to himself while still attempting to discover who he is. Like the thousands who came to the concert, he’s young, confident and full
of hope for the future, but with no idea where that future will lead.

Staunton is strong and nearly unrecognizable as Sadie and her role is one of the movie’s flaws.  She’s so unbending in her attitudes, particularly towards her son, that it’s nearly impossible to warm to
her. Her final scene, in particular, will likely leave you confused about this amazing, frustrating character. 

Taking Woodstock also has a tome that’s familiar to anyone who’s watched an Ang Lee movie.  There’s a certain distance to the way Lee unfolds the story, a coolness that sometimes makes you feel as
if you’re watching work drained of passion. This is one movie where the director’s customary restraint works against, not with, the spirit of the story.

By the way, though you’ll hear snippets of numbers from the original documentary’s soundtrack, don’t look for any moments from that film. They’re not here.  Taking Woodstock isn’t that story.  It’s all
about the people, man.  The movie gives the “power” — and the focus — to “the people.”

For the most part, it does right by them — and us. Peace. 

MPAA Rating: R for profanity, mild violence, drug content and sexual situations.  Joe’s Rating: Three (***) Stars. 

Joe Barber’s entertainment reports and reviews can be heard Fridays through Sundays on the WTOP-FM Radio Network (103.5, 103.9, 107.7 & Wtop.com.)  He can be seen regularly on WETA-TV’s
Around Town and Fridays on Comcast Sports Net’s Washington Post Live!