Ang Lee takes us on a trip back to when the music festival was born, writes PIERCE HUNT
DIRECTOR Ang Lee has been at the helm of an incredibly diverse range of films, from 2003's disappointing Hulk to the Academy Award-winning Brokeback Mountain.
Now the Taiwanese filmmaker has gone back to the heady summer of 1969, in Catskills, New York, to bring us the story behind the world's most iconic music event, Woodstock.
Demetri Martin plays Elliot Tiber, an only child who has left his job in the city to help save his parents' motel from going under after several difficult years of trading. Every year Elliot is granted a permit for a small music event he runs in his hometown, but when news reaches him that organisers of Woodstock Festival face opposition to their originally planned location, he uses his permit to make sure the country's most talked about festival goes ahead in his parents' backyard.
Animosity soon runs high in the small town of Bethel, as residents aren't happy that thousands of teenagers will be descending on their sleepy little backwater. But when it turns out that hundreds of thousands of people show up, the highway comes to a grinding halt and the town is overrun with hippies.
Elliot is hindered throughout the difficult planning process by his instantly dislikable mother Sonia (Imelda Staunton) and his schoolfriend Billy (Emile Hirsch). Billy, a Vietnam War soldier, is struggling to get back to day to day life and is hitting the bottle hard.
Taking Woodstock sidesteps the actual spectacle of the event and follows the journeys of several characters and how they deal with the marvel of the whole experience. Without actually seeing any act on stage, Taking Woodstock feels a little deflating as your closest experience to the event is witnessing Elliot tripping in a VW camper.
The first hour of Taking Woodstock is painfully slow. If you don't fall asleep and keep on top of the monotonous proceedings, you're doing well. It's a shame because there are some touching moments between Elliot and his downtrodden father, Jake (Henry Goodman), who is constantly at the beck and call of his monstrous wife Sonia. Her constant nagging and arsenic tongue make it very difficult for anyone to empathise with their financial situation.
Lee has served up yet another curve ball. For a film that should be great, it's sadly far from it. You have to keep your audience entertained, and if you insist on making them sit through dull, laborious scenes, you're not going to win many over.
