When using the documentary materials from 1969, the processing was reasonable, and there was no attempt to restore the concert scene. I remember that the picture-in-picture method was used in the documentary in 1969. If it is used again, it will be a bit lacking in creativity, and it means to be in line with the classics.
The feeling of taking LSD is actually a visual expression of the usual textual description of LSD's medicinal power, and it lacks imagination (persuasion). The best picture performance I've seen is "Trainspotting".
The most annoying thing in the film is the mysterious organization and his hippie girlfriend. The two of them are calm, noble and elegant, riding on thoroughbred horses, and when they speak, they speak like a prophet speaking to a human being. It's a pity that in addition to making them spend a lot of money that people in the real world are most envious of, they don't have a few human lines, and they are a pair of shriveled images.
In addition, the veterans of the Vietnam War, the transgender bodyguards, and the Jewish women who love money are all screen products of stereotyped social images, and the plot left to them is to play cards according to the rules. Vietnam soldiers live in fear as a backdrop for concerts; transgender bodyguards take on a god-like omniscient role; wealth-loving Jewish women embody the conflict between worldliness and hippie spirits.
These images are a total failure. None of the images appear as souls, and the actors are isolated from the lines. This reminds me of the scene in ken park where a kid smokes marijuana and tells his buddies that his dad used to abuse him, but when he died, the kid suddenly felt sad. In contrast, the characters in this film are all stereotyped and then performed, and the characters do not appear in the performance.
In addition, the ambiguous attitude towards woodstock concerts also causes this film to have no emotional mainline like a running account, which is obvious compared to "Brokeback Mountain". I have seen an article on the other side of woodstock, revealing that behind this show of love and peace is just a commercial activity that exploits certain social emotions, woodstock is too deified, because people always need a legendary It's beautiful, it's no different from watching Hollywood commercials with a big reunion.
In addition, the hippie spirit itself is questionable. Most of the hippies I have come into contact with in my life are a combination of petty bourgeois sentiment and hippie behavior. Some cool people, at least not necessarily related to "love & peace", they have the same ingredients as everyone.
About the hippie, the social significance of woodstock could write a dissertation. A sweeping compliment is poetic and childish; highlighting its dark side ignores its good side. Ang Lee is aware of both aspects, but the material on both aspects is superficial. He didn't choose to praise or criticize, and even the few lines of dialogue he stayed on the surface didn't even have the strength to bring the audience to think. In general I think he's still leaning towards praise, as evidenced by the cop's envy of hippies and the character's transformation in the protagonist.
Due to the lack of vivid characters, including the protagonist, who is just a character who affects the plot, swaying in the middle of the attitude towards the woodstock concert. Some "documentary-like" footage and "surreal" drug use feelings can't support a complete story. Compared with Brokeback Mountain, I feel that this film is like a pot of porridge, with some soaked oatmeal rather than preserved eggs in the porridge.
View more about Taking Woodstock reviews
