For what a trailer is worth, Taking Woodstock director Ang Lee has hit the right comic-realism tone. Nobody’s doing “comedy” but it feels likably funny. And Lee doesn’t seem to have gotten anything wrong in his recreation of two distinct late ’60s cultures — Jewish Catskills and urban American hippie. And you can tell that Demetri Martin, who plays the lead role of Elliot Tiber, has that driven but amiable-plucky quality that we all like.
I’ve never watched Martin’s Comedy Central show (and I have no guilt about that) so introducing the film with pencil drawings seemed inspired, or at least unfamiliar.
This being the first look at the film, it’s not surprising that the trailer overlooks the fact that Tiber was and is a chip off the old Ennis del Mar block. I have to say I was a bit taken aback by Liev Schreiber‘s transgender appearance (including blonde tresses). But you can tell right away that Emile Hirsch is going to rule in this thing. The other costars are Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Paul Dano, Imelda Staunton. Whi’s the actor playing Woodstock organizer-producer Michael Lang?