More on Taking Woodstock at Cannes

There has been much chatter about Taking Woodstock in the past few days after its premiere at Cannes, and here are a few of the press snippets that caught my eye.

In a post entitled "Taking Woodstock rocks" over at the Austin 360 Cannes blog, Charles Ealy has a warm appraisal of the film, in which he concludes "Taking Woodstock is a joy, although it might leave you wishing that those days had never ended."

At the Filmmaker magazine blog, Howard Feinstein presents a spirited defense of the film saying that, like Ealy, the film presents an uncannily authentic picture of the hippie era. Here's how his post starts off:

"I haven't heard the word "groovy" in a long time--in decades, perhaps. It is part of the dialog in Ang Lee's mind-bending Taking Woodstock, shown in competition, accompanied by psychedelic images. This is stuff from the late '60s, and until now, I, a veteran of the era, have not seen a rendering that wasn't silly and over-the-top. (Ever see the movie 1969?) Critics here have not taken kindly to it, calling the story "thin." Wrong. It is an accurate adaptation of the memoirs of Elliot Tiber (formerly Teichberg), played here by comic Demetri Martin."

Finally, over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells has been reporting on the Taking Woodstock press lunch, and has this written report on proceedings as well as the video below of director Ang Lee and writer-producer James Schamus.