The Sandspur

Issue date: 9/11/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: MCTCampus.com SUMMER OF PEACE LOVE AND HAPPINESS: Demeti Martin stars in this comedy about the historic Woodstock Festival.

From the opening strains of Danny Elfman's musical compositions, to the first shots of photography, award-winning director Ang Lee's artistic presence can be plainly seen in the wondrous movie Taking Woodstock. Lee makes use of split screens to creatively splice images of life and times in the 1960s. The viewer is introduced to Elliot Tiber, portrayed by Demetri Martin, and his mother and father, played by Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman, respectively. Throughout the movie, Elliot and his elderly parents struggle to maintain their decaying motel, The El Monaco, which is about to be subject to foreclosure.

When Elliot hears that a nearby town has banned the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival from taking place, he utilizes his own approved music festival permit to move the event to a neighbor's farm in White Lake, NY. During the turbulent weeks and build up to the event, and the culmination, Elliot's life is changed. He is forced to face himself and his situation head-on; his work as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, NY has not proven successful, and he is struggling to come out to his parents as a homosexual.

The carefree attitude and optimism of the younger generation during the late '60s is very present and visceral in the film, as the nation's youth roll in by the thousands. The older generation's disdain towards the youth's resistance at that time is also felt. Watching this movie is like being swallowed by another lifetime, or like reliving it for those in the audience who lived to actually see the event occur. The other cast members that round out the story include Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild", "Milk"), Paul Dano ("Little Miss Sunshine", "Gigantic") and Kelli Garner ("Lars and the Real Girl", "Thumbsucker"). The plot primarily carries the film, but there are character study undertones centered on Elliot Tiber and his internal and external struggles with himself and his family.

For the baby boomers that grew up during the turbulent times surrounding Woodstock and the Vietnam War, "Taking Woodstock" serves as a fairly accurate depiction. Anyone interested in the culture and feel of America's youth in the 1960s would greatly enjoy this film. It is not, however, a dry historical recount; the movie has its humorous moments and it is good for a heart-warming laugh. Though the theater was not filled to capacity at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday, the people that were there were visibly enjoying themselves, as well as the movie.

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