Then clarify a few statements about the film: 1. This is not a film about the music festival itself, and the whole film does not even have a complete band on stage. 2. This is not Lee Ang’s third gay movie. The protagonist’s small affair does show his orientation, but same-sex affection is not the main line of the story. 3. This is not a serious and profound film, at least not a seemingly serious and profound film. It subverts the depression and dullness of Ang Lee's previous works, and the story is smooth and emotional. This little film by Ang Lee may not have a golden palm, many people may be disappointed, but to me, it is a surprise.
1.
As Li Ang himself said, after filming "Brokeback Mountain" and "Lust Caution", "Making Woodstock" is a sketch he used to relax. The film was made emotionally, satisfying people's yearning for that magical age, full of Eden-like illusory beauty. The only positive description of the music concert in the film is that elliott shares marijuana with a pair of wandering men and women, and then goes to the top of the mountain. I watched the panorama of the music festival from a distance, in which gorgeous colors and magical shots show the state of falling and flying characters. Although no matter how grand the gathering is, it will be a void in the end. Breaking down can not solve any practical problems except for letting us lie down, but there is no sinking, where there is firmness, there is no stray, and where is it free? After shooting in Hollywood for so long, Ang Lee was finally able to freely deconstruct and yy American classic memories in his own way. He must agree with this sentence: It is happy to break down.
2.
"Making Woodstock" takes the music festival founder Elliot's concert as the main line of the story: He accidentally found in the newspaper in the summer of 1969 that the original venue of the "Woodstock Music Festival" had been revoked, so he hit Called the organizer and found a new venue to be involved in the greatest rock music festival of the 20th century, and more importantly, in the process of participating in this great event, elliott himself and his parents also reorganized the family. The relationship with the individual. In the imagination of many people, the theme of this movie is to record a great event and a great era. In fact, this movie takes a grand historical background as a footnote to the growth of an individual. Isn't it the trick Li Ang is good at?
Elliott's decision to organize the Woodstock Music Festival was originally to attract customers and solve the financial problems of the motel run by his parents, but at the end the film explored the issue of "where to go" for elliott. Elliott’s father was a conservative, silent, and indifferent town resident, but his repressed passion was released during the festival, while Elliott’s mother was a stubborn miser. “She only believed in cash and lacked security for checks. Feeling", she is full of complicated feelings for the popular music festival. The climax of the whole film was the madness that Elliott's parents showed after they accidentally ate a cake containing marijuana, which completely relieved the usual depression of life. The 34-year-old Elliott also began to formally think about leaving the family. As he himself emphasized in his line with his parents, he may be the simplest and cleanest among the 340,000 pilgrimage hippies, but the confusion about the future is the same. .
3.
for Americans, Woodstock Music Festival is not just a simple, three days 450,000 hippies polymerization, almost zero death of rock and roll party, it is more like a fabulous era of Icon, It is the most beautiful and pure part of the memory of the so-called Beat generation. Therefore, when Ang Lee chose this subject matter, it was as if he had challenged Jane Austen's "Sense and Emotion", which belonged to the spiritual and private realm of the American nation. However, any story that Ang Lee makes is his movie.
When "Manufacturing Woodstock" was screened in the United States before, it did not get overwhelming praise. Even after the Cannes screening, reporters in Europe and the United States gave a more conservative evaluation. For Westerners, Woodstock is a more contemporary symbol. It should be as quiet and grand as Soderbergh shot "Che Guevara" last year. Even if the shot is dull and boring, it can be forgiven. Using a small incision like an individual and a family like Li Ang to express, I'm afraid they don't want to see and recognize it, maybe they will feel too frivolous. In addition, the film's performance of music is indeed too stingy. Of course, this is related to the angle of Lee Ang's film, and it may also be related to Lee's inability to accurately grasp the essence of music in that era and deliberately avoid it. I still can't do both.
4.
After "The Wedding Banquet" and "Brokeback Mountain", Ang Lee was clearly designated as the "Master of Backs". Therefore, in the previous media attention process of "Making Woodstock", the gay theme has always been a focus. But from the plot point of view, although there is also a stout man in a cross-dress in the film, he and elliott are only friendship, and the performance is the pursuit of freedom: "I know what I am, and whether others know what I am."
"Making Woodstock" is based on the autobiographical novel of elliott, the creator of the music festival. There is indeed a lot of his personal orientation in the original work: it is precisely because of the music festival's call for freedom that he has never come out. Tell your parents the truth. It should be said that this part of the content is very suitable for the theme that Li Ang wants to express, but from the perspective of the film's production, Li Ang seems to have deliberately downplayed the content of this part. The family story is above the love story. As for the reason for this choice, it is still Go to the press conference and ask him himself.
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