'Taking Woodstock' entertaining and terrifically photographed

Director: Ang Lee

Cast: Imelda Staunton, Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch

Cert: 16

Once again Lee captures a defining moment in American, and subsequently world, history with

this wonderful film about the iconic Woodstock music fest of 1969 … though not so much about

the event itself as what surrounded it and how it came about.

In a terrifically photographed film Lee builds a story that is both funny and serious –

indeed, even inspiring – and brings us rich characters and a knowledge of the America of the

1960s.

Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a man whose life is going nowhere until he is forced by

circumstances to return to his parents’ run-down motel in the Catskills, where he learns that

a neighbouring town is about to stage a music festival that might bring some much-needed

customers to his own place.

He then inadvertently becomes instrumental in the main event we all now know as Woodstock.

The film is entertaining in that it’s the stories around the event that give us joy.

Star Rating: 5/5