There may be a famous quote that says that ‘if you remember Woodstock then you probably were not there’, but for those of us too young remember it then there is a new film from Ang Lee which tells the bizarre true story of how the music festival was actually created; and it goes some way to helping us experience the magic that occurred that special weekend in 1969 in upstate New York.

The story follows Elliott Tiber (Demetri Martin) an interior designer working in Greenwich Village who is called back one summer to his parents Jake and Sonia Teichberg (Henry Goodman & Imelda Staunton) run down motel in the Catskills to help them save it from being bought out by the local bank. Elliott is a good son and wants to help his folks and local community. He serves on the local council and runs a little classical musical festival there each year, but when he learns that a planned music and arts festival has lost its permit in a neighboring town he realizes that his own festival permit may allow him to not only save his parents business but also aid his local community. Seizing the moment he calls the organizers of Woodstock and asks them to come and look at his parents motel and land to see if it can be used. This falls through but he introduces them to his neighbour Maxs farm (Eugene Levy) and as its big enough the festival is a go and the rest is rock history.

Once in a while a film comes along that not only reaffirms your faith in cinema, but in life as well – and this is one such film. Back on stonking form Ang Lee and his trusted friend and writer James Schamus have crafted a beautiful film that not only makes you laugh, cry and smile but throws light on the creation of a festival that is so well documented its amazing that no one has told its real story on screen before.

Its adapted by Schamus from Elliott Tibers own memoirs and is a really honest and simple story about tolerance, family love and of liberation in a time of great political and social upheaval. The film has to be seen to be believed as the happy accident that led to the festival going ahead is something that could not be made up as a young Jewish boy inadvertently sets in motion a generation defining event on his mum and dads run down shabby motel and his neighbours dairy farm.

The script crackles with great wit, one liners and laugh out loud moments and is brought to life by a bevy of brilliant performances from the ensemble cast who all have their chance to shine. Martin is fantastic as Elliott first seeming nave but having enough enthusiasm and belief in reaching the finish line and is definitely an actor to watch in the future. Imelda Staunton is awesome as his domineering mother Sonia a formidable woman who rules with an iron rod but can show her soft side when appropriate and Henry Goodman is fabulous as her obviously long suffering husband who loves his son and her but seems to just shrug his shoulders and get on with life what it throws at him.

Ang Lee always gets the best from his cast and seeing Live Schreiber carrying off his role as a cross dressing marine is worth the ticket price alone. The excellent Emile Hirsch pops up as a damaged Vietnam vet and other smaller roles are filled by actors that all help to bring the story to life vividly.

The strange thing is that, for a film that is about a classic music festival, you dont actually get to see anyone play. Lee only alludes to it happening by through snippets of sound which encroach on the wind, and through one hilarious incident where Elliott gets off his head on acid on the way to watch the show and ends up in some hippies camper van tripping out.

In a year that has seen old franchises return and big budget blockbusters fail its wonderful to see a film at the end of the year that brings light and joy to the world. See this and you will smile, and in this dark Winter thats no bad thing at all.

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By: Mark Cappuccio