5 Movie Clips from Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK

Opening on August 26^th in limited release and the 28^th everywhere is the new Ang Lee movie “Taking Woodstock”. While some filmmakers work in the same genre again and again, Ang Lee likes to explore new ground. And in his latest movie, he’s created a coming of age story set around Woodstock in 1969. So to help promote the film, we’ve been provided with 5 clips along with a detailed synopsis. It’s all after the jump so take a look:

Based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber, the comedy stars Demetri Martin as Elliot, who inadvertently played a role in making 1969′s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Featuring a standout ensemble cast, and songs from a score of ’60s musical icons including The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and Country Joe and the Fish – plus a new recording of “Freedom” from Richie Havens – Taking Woodstock is a joyous voyage to a moment in time when everything seemed possible.

Working as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, Elliot feels empowered by the gay rights movement. But he is also still staked to the family business – a dumpy Catskills motel called the El Monaco that is being run into the ground by his overbearing parents, Jake and Sonia Teichberg (Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton). In the summer of 1969, Elliot has to move back upstate to the El Monaco in order to help save the motel from being taken over by the bank.

Upon hearing that a planned music and arts festival has lost its permit from the neighboring town of Wallkill, NY, Elliot calls producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures to offer his family’s motel to the promoters and generate some much-needed business. Elliot also introduces Lang to his neighbor Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy), who operates a 600-acre dairy farm down the road. Soon the Woodstock staff is moving into the El Monaco – and half a million people are on their way to Yasgur’s farm for “3 days of Peace & Music in White Lake.”

With a little help from his friends, including theater troupe leader Devon (Dan Fogler), recently returned Vietnam veteran Billy (Emile Hirsch), and cross-dressing ex-Marine Vilma (Liev Schreiber) – and with a little opposition from townspeople, including Billy’s brother Dan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) – Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life – and popular culture – forever.

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Finally, next week I’ll have some exclusive video interviews with the cast, so make sure to check back for those.

And one last thing….I’ve started posting film clips in a new way. Since the site runs pre-roll (it pays for all the bandwidth we use), I’ve started posting all the clips in one video. What that means is, once you push play, you’ll probably have to sit through one commercial and then all the clips will play in order. While some may have liked the old method, it’s a lot easier to post them like this and if you were going to watch the film clips, I figure it doesn’t matter that they’re all in one video.

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