Review of Taking Woodstock (2009) by Bret K — 12 Jan 2010

A decent yet somewhat disappointing film from Ang Lee, one of the world's finest filmmakers. Taking Woodstock is very appropriately titled, as it is less about Woodstock itself but what we have taken from the concert, focusing on a young man's coming of age during the concert.

There are some charming sequences involving his journey of self-discovery, yet the journey seems mainly to just "happen" to him though. I guess might be in line with the spirit of the hippies attending the concert, but it doesn't make for exciting cinema (an obvious exception to this would be how the last twenty minutes just "happen" to the astronaut of 2001: A Space Odysey, but the enormity of the universe making itself fully known strikes me as just a little more interesting than idiot hippies getting blasted on drugs).