First off, is this a cruel joke? This “Taking Woodstock” “trailer” (which we have to put in quotes, “trailer”) looks like a Demetri Martin film, not a picture directed by the venerable Ang Lee. Honestly, about halfway into the trailer and we’re thinking, is this “Dazed and Confused” light? Is Ang Lee working on a project very atypical for him?
Or maybe this film is much more of a comedy/ light dramedy than we ever expected because it just seems to get campier and cornier. Liev Schreiber in drag makes us laugh, Emile Hirsch looks like he’s about to laugh mid-sentence deliver. Perhaps that’s the point, but man, this is not what we were expecting at all! It’s got a weird, episodic sit-com tone and a goofy, “That ’70s Show”-like tone. Very odd.
Doesn’t the music in the trailer at the beginning sound like something Mark Mothersbaugh wrote for “The Royal Tenenbaums,” but not quite? The score is actually being composed by Danny Elfman. Strange. “Taking Woodstock” hits theaters on August 14 in limited release.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
