The movie was panned by professional and amateur critics alike when it came out because it didn't focus on the music. If that's what you want, might as well go for the real thing with the actual "Woodstock" film that came out a year after the 'Aquarian Music and Arts Festival" was held. What surprises me as I come to this picture on IMDb, is that there are more reviews for this one than there is for the 'real thing' (73 to 69 as I write this)! Seriously, for those complaining, see the original.
I guess that's one of the reason I held off watching for so long until today, so in a way I'm somewhat guilty of my own criticism. But with all the junk I've watched and reviewed on IMDb in recent years, I didn't see how viewing the film would be a time waster. And I'm actually glad I did, as it brought back a lot of the memories of fifty years ago, growing up in a small town about fifty miles from Bethel, New York. The local hype had a way of accelerating the further you drove up Route 17 into the Catskills, until, as you observe in the picture, the local roads and highways become virtual parking lots. It's always difficult to know how much of a picture 'inspired by a true story' is actually real or not, but the way Elliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin) and his family are portrayed in the film is probably pretty close. Completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of humanity that descended on this small, rural community, one can only gaze on in fascination as the event takes on a life of it's own with laid back promoter Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) keeping an open mind and taking it all in stride.
One quirky thing about the casting for this picture - for a while I thought that Robert De Niro might have been lurking under the scraggly beard of Elli's father Jake, but it turned out to be actor Henry Goodman. Seems to me he could be a De Niro stand-in. Imelda Staunton makes it easy for the viewer to dislike Elli's Mom, right up until that scene where she and Jake get the Woodstock vibe from a batch of marijuana brownies. That was a cool scene, as was Liv Schreiber's take on Viet Nam vet Vilma von Vetta; try saying that ten times fast. For his part, Demetri Martin seemed to be in over his head as an actor portraying Elliot, and maybe that was the idea, because most anyone caught up in the local hysteria would have been mind numbed to some degree.
So if I were to recommend the picture, it would be with the proviso to see 1970's "Woodstock" as well, either before or after so as not to miss out on the concert experience. In which case, the irony of a statement from one of the concert organizers is given added resonance - "Hey, it's August. It's not gonna rain."
I guess that's one of the reason I held off watching for so long until today, so in a way I'm somewhat guilty of my own criticism. But with all the junk I've watched and reviewed on IMDb in recent years, I didn't see how viewing the film would be a time waster. And I'm actually glad I did, as it brought back a lot of the memories of fifty years ago, growing up in a small town about fifty miles from Bethel, New York. The local hype had a way of accelerating the further you drove up Route 17 into the Catskills, until, as you observe in the picture, the local roads and highways become virtual parking lots. It's always difficult to know how much of a picture 'inspired by a true story' is actually real or not, but the way Elliot Teichberg (Demetri Martin) and his family are portrayed in the film is probably pretty close. Completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of humanity that descended on this small, rural community, one can only gaze on in fascination as the event takes on a life of it's own with laid back promoter Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) keeping an open mind and taking it all in stride.
One quirky thing about the casting for this picture - for a while I thought that Robert De Niro might have been lurking under the scraggly beard of Elli's father Jake, but it turned out to be actor Henry Goodman. Seems to me he could be a De Niro stand-in. Imelda Staunton makes it easy for the viewer to dislike Elli's Mom, right up until that scene where she and Jake get the Woodstock vibe from a batch of marijuana brownies. That was a cool scene, as was Liv Schreiber's take on Viet Nam vet Vilma von Vetta; try saying that ten times fast. For his part, Demetri Martin seemed to be in over his head as an actor portraying Elliot, and maybe that was the idea, because most anyone caught up in the local hysteria would have been mind numbed to some degree.
So if I were to recommend the picture, it would be with the proviso to see 1970's "Woodstock" as well, either before or after so as not to miss out on the concert experience. In which case, the irony of a statement from one of the concert organizers is given added resonance - "Hey, it's August. It's not gonna rain."