Directed, co-shot, and co-edited by Michael Wadleigh, Woodstock is a documentary-concert film that chronicles the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival at Bethel, New York from August 15 to 18 in the year of 1969. Featuring an array of performances from acts such as Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, and many others. The film also takes a look at scenes around the festival including the small town of Bethel whose residents deal with hippies who are coming to their small town to attend a big music festival. The result is an absolutely exhilarating and rapturous concert documentaries ever made.
On August 15-18 in the small town of Bethel in upstate New York, three days of peace, love, and music commenced where nearly half-a-million people attended for a good time where they listened to a lot of music. In the course of three days, the concert would be considered a massive event as director Michael Wadleigh would join a crew of cameramen and capture not just the concert itself but the events in between where he would talk to the people at the show as well as the locals in Bethel. There, Wadleigh would see if there is a sense of culture clash but saw something much richer where the locals reacted very well to the young kids and also helped them with food and medical supplies. Even the authorities proved to not be a hassle and help out where for a little while, a sense of utopia was created in a farm though not everyone was happy such as a cranky neighbor angry over his cows not being milked.
Along with a few incidents where a couple of people died at the festival where one from a heroin overdose and someone else being run over by a tractor. Wadleigh was able to capture a sense of spirit as well as a community just coming together to help each other out and have a good time. Even as there are those that come to the festival wanting to see these acts and listen to the music where they’re also trying to find themselves. Some of which aren’t hippies but those who are curious about what this festival is about yet there are those who realize that it isn’t for everyone. Amidst all of this excitement for music, free love, nude bathing, and such, there are these little moments in the film that are unique that includes people calling on payphones to talk to their parents and just tell them their fine despite these reports from the press that it is a disaster area.
Then there’s the performances as the standouts from the likes of Joe Cocker, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Richie Havens, Sly & the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash are presented with a sense of enthusiasm and power. Other performances in the film from Canned Heat, John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonfuls, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Country Joe & the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, and the Jefferson Airplane also provide some unique moments with Guthrie having a very funny moment in the film where he tells the audience that New York thruway is closed and he was rapping to the fuzz. Another funny moment involves Crosby, Stills, & Nash where they revealed that this is their second performance and they’re scared shitless. Yet, of all the groups that appear in the film, the rock n’ roll revival group Sha-Na-Na is one of the oddest moments in the film as they’re playing old-school 1950s rock in a cover of At the Hop as they come off as the most square group in the line-up but somehow managed to win the audience over.
With the aid of co-cinematographers Malcolm Hart, Don Lenzer, Michael Margetts, David Myers, Richard Pearce, and Alfred Wertheimer, Wadleigh would shoot as much footage as he could of the performances and activities outside of the show including some behind the scenes footage where one of its organizers in Michael Lang tries to make sure the performers are there and very little helicopters would fly over the festival. Much of it is presented in a loose form with hand-held cameras along with stylistic reverse shots and compositions where Wadleigh would also play with the numerous aspect ratios in the film to create something is larger than life. Helping him with the change in aspect ratios and multiple point-of-view shots in the editing would include co-editors Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker, Stan Warnow, Yeu-Bun Lee, and Jere Huggins. The editing would feature multiple split-screen screens to play into not just the music but also the reaction from the audience and the musicians themselves towards the music.
The sound work of Dan Wallin and L.A. Johnson, with additional work by Greg P. Russell and George Groves for the 1994 director’s cut edition, would help create a soundtrack that captures the liveliness of the performances and the reaction of the audience itself. The 1994 director’s cut film which features 40 additional minutes of material including full performance from Canned Heat, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and a couple of songs from Jimi Hendrix as well as a few extended interview clips do give the film more of what the festival was about. Even as it also showcases a bit of melancholia of those that had passed on as both Hendrix and Joplin would die in the year of the film’s original’s release in 1970. Overall, Wadleigh creates a film that is just mesmerizing in not just the music but in the event itself.
Woodstock is a spectacular film from Michael Wadleigh. It’s not just one of the definitive documentary concert films but it’s a film that captures an experience that will never be replicated. Especially at a moment in during one of the most tense periods in American history where for three days. Peace and love was able to coexist in small town in upstate New York no matter how old they were or what generation they’re from. In the end, Woodstock is a tremendous film from Michael Wadleigh.
© thevoid99 2016
Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 10/14/07 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.
Directed by Julie Taymor and written by Taymor, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais, Across the Universe is a musical inspired by the music of the Beatles about a Liverpool boy who travels to America to find his long-lost father as he falls in love with an American girl during the 1960s. The film is an exploration into a period of time set to the music of the Beatles as it plays into the idea of peace and love through some of the most tumultuous moments of the 1960s. Starring Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy, T.V. Carpio, and cameos from Eddie Izzard, U2's Bono, and Frida star Salma Hayek. Across the Universe is a dazzling and off-the-wall film from Julie Taymor.
In his dour world of Liverpool, a young man named Jude (Jim Sturgess) is hoping to find his father in America, who left his mother (Angela Mounsey) as a baby. Leaving behind his girlfriend Molly (Lisa Hogg) and the world he's known for all of his life, Jude enters into a new world. Landing himself in Princeton, he finds his father Wes Huber (Robert Clohessy) working as a janitor while revealing that he has his own family. Staying in his father's bunk in Princeton, Jude befriends a student named Max (Joe Anderson) after a night of fun. Max, who lives in an upper class home of sorts, invites Jude to Thanksgiving as they meet Max's sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). When Max announces to his family his decision to drop out of school and go to New York City, only Lucy is supportive of the decision with Jude joining along.
Arriving at the city, they stay at the apartment of a singer named Sadie (Dana Fuchs) who has also invited African-American singer-guitarist JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy) as well as a young Asian-American named Prudence (T.V. Carpio). For a while, things to be great with Jude pursuing his artistic pursuits in drawings and paintings as Max decides to invite Lucy to the city. Lucy, still in mourning over the death of her high school boyfriend Daniel (Spencer Liff) at the war, falls for Jude as everything seems to be fine. Then Max receives news that he's been drafted to join the Army forcing Lucy to deal with her feelings towards the war. With Max hoping not to get drafted, things get tense when Sadie is considered for a label deal of her own rather than her band with JoJo. After a party with Dr. Roberts (Bono), they end up taking a trip and have another party with Mr. Kite (Eddie Izzard) as Prudence has joined his circus.
Upon their return to New York City, Max has been drafted and sent to Vietnam for the war. Sadie and JoJo begin to separate while Lucy becomes more involved in activism with an activist named Phil (Michael Ryan). Jude however, decides to not be involved with peace movements in order to pursue his own art which causes friction with Lucy. Yet, as things become tense and nothing is improving over the war or the protests, Jude tells Lucy about her involvement as he and JoJo try to find their own worlds through their art. Finally after another protest where Jude, is suddenly involved, things start to fall apart as Jude gets help from the last he expects to help him as everyone is forced to look inward.
While musicals aren't for all audiences, a musical with music by the Beatles is a tough sell yet the result is definitely spectacular. Even from the mind as someone as ambitious from Julie Taymor. While the result isn't entirely perfect, what she brings to the film is a look that is completely its own and with the music of the Beatles, Taymor brings everything back to the 1960s. With puppet-like sets, visual collages, and everything that seems to represent the psychedelic 60s, it's definitely a film that will stimulate as well as warp the mind of the viewer.
The film's script definitely has an interesting structure in how the music is presented and where it's taking place. The first act starts off very innocently with early music from the Beatles including some more upbeat tracks. From the dour world of Liverpool that Jude lives to the beautiful suburbia that Lucy lives in. Yet, the tone begins to change when both Lucy and JoJo have their first encounter with death, in JoJo's case, the death of a family member following the Detroit riots in '67. In the second act, the music is geared towards mid-60s Beatles where everything at first seems fine and then chaos ensues. By the third act which is around '68-'70, things start to wind down as everyone faces their own sense of disillusionment. Yet, a lot of what happens includes many references to not just that period but also the moments that happened to the Beatles as well.
The script works for the most part though it starts out very clunky and when a musical sequence is going to happen, the audiences tends to know what's going to happen. That's part of the film's weakness at first even as it has the feeling where the performance feels like a music video. Yet, as the film continues, things start to relax as the audiences know what's going to happen where the music and story finally gel. A lot of credit goes to Taymor in her presentation that includes some wonderful sequences that involves dancers and sets where the whole film does feel like theater. Then there's the music that plays to the film and by the second act, it starts to feel very natural and comforting while the message that goes in terms of what was going in the 60s doesn't feel heavy-handed. It's more about what the characters are going through and such.
Helping with Taymor's vision in terms of her staging and musical numbers is choreographer Daniel Ezralow whose choreography feels natural and not in an engaging way that would make the viewer uncomfortable. It actually works to emphasize the emotions and the feeling of where the characters are. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel use of lights from the multi-colored lights mixed in with animation sequences, visual effects design by Dongho Lee that brings some joy and rhythm to whatever sequence that's going on. Delbonnel's photography is exquisite with some wonderful exterior shots that look naturally dreamy while the interiors are amazing to the staging of the film. Editor Francoise Bonnot does some fine work with a lot of the film's editing without making into that rapid, MTV-style of cutting that's dominant in a lot of films. Instead, it moves very well with the rhythm and tone of the music as well as the emotions in the performances.
Production designer Mark Friedberg along with set decorator Ellen Christansen and art director Peter Rogness do some amazing work in the film's production. Whether it's the flashing lights that pop up during the bowling alley sequences, a hospital scene that involved a bunch of nurses played Salma Hayek, the puppets, and a lot of the recreation of 1960s psychedelic clubs, and the Liverpool club that's a reference to the Cavern where the Beatles played in their early years. The overall work on the production is amazing in every detail and look with its use of locations. Costume designer Albert Wosky does some great work with the film's look whether it's the leather-like, black look of Jude, the upper-class look of Lucy, to the psychedelic looks of Sadie and JoJo. Each look the film has in its costume works well with the period. Even in the makeup by Mary Aaron and Louise McCarthy do great work, even with the masks that some of the people wear.
Sound effects editor Wyatt Sprague does some great work in creating the atmosphere of the locations where the characters are as it plays to the tone of the film, particularly in the second and third act. Taymor's husband and music composer Elliot Goldenthal brings a nice film score that plays to Max's horrors at war as well as the sense of disillusionment that comes in the third act with its soft, orchestral score. The rest of the film soundtrack is definitely filled with Beatles covers and to its surprise, they were all actually well performed and sung by the cast. Standout cuts include Jeff Beck's guitar performance of A Day In The Life, Martin Luther McCoy's While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Because by the entire cast, and many more. It's an overall fantastic soundtrack.
The cast is definitely unique with cameos from Dylan Baker as Max & Lucy's father, Bill Irwin as their uncle, James Urbaniak as Sadie's manager, Salma Hayek as a gorgeous nurse (who wouldn't want her as 6-7 nurses?), and Joe Cocker doing a cover of Come Together in three different roles including a pimp that's a sight to see. U2's Bono makes a glorious cameo while sporting a cool American accent as this guru named Dr. Roberts. Other small appearances from Robert Clohessy, Angela Mounsey, Linda Emond as Lucy's mother, Lisa Hogg, Spencer Liff, and Michael Ryan are good in their small roles. T.V. Carpio is excellent as the confused Prudence who is trying to find her own identity as well as her own role in the world. Though her role is small, she makes most of her appearances leaving the viewer wanting more as she does a nice cover of I Want To Hold Your Hand. Dana Fuchs is impressive as the bohemian, Janis Joplin-like singer Sadie who is just sexy and a hell of a vocalist as her renditions of a few Beatles song in a bluesy style.
Martin Luther McCoy is great as the Jimi Hendrix-like character JoJo who can play a mean guitar while doing some spirited, soulful renditions of While My Guitar Gently Weeps while his duets with Fuchs are just awe-inspiring to convey their love-hate relationship. The film's real breakthrough performance is Joe Anderson as the non-conforming Max who brings a very energetic, spirited performance that is a sight to watch. The British actor not only sports a perfect American accent but his singing and dance is equally as impressive in songs like Hey Jude, Happiness Is A Warm Gun with Salma Hayek, and With A Little Help From My Friends with Jim Sturgess. Jim Sturgess is incredible as Jude, a young man who just wants to make art and have fun. Sturgess' vocal performance is amazing as he definitely adds emotions and angst into the songs, notably Revolution, Across The Universe, Girl, and Something. Sturgess not only can sing but also act as his chemistry with Evan Rachel Wood is insatiable. Evan Rachel Wood delivers a strong yet complex performance as Lucy who starts out as an innocent young girl who is forced to find reason over the death of her first boyfriend. Wood definitely is the acting veteran among her main cast while proving to sell herself not just in the film's dramatic moments but also the musical performances. Wood's vocals are definitely impressive and natural as she sings them with such life on songs like It Won't Be Long, If I Fell, and Blackbird.
Across the Universe is a marvelous film from Julie Taymor. While it is a very flawed film, it is a film that manages to be a lot of things as it includes a superb cast and amazing technical work. Especially as it has something to offer for fans of the Beatles to see these songs be re-interpreted for a new generation. In the end, Across the Universe is a visually spectacular film from Julie Taymor.
Julie Taymor Films: Titus (1999 film) - Frida - The Tempest (2010 film) - The Auteurs #42: Julie Taymor
© thevoid99 2014
