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Review of Taking Woodstock (Danny Elfman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you have low expectations for this minimalistic
expression of surprisingly somber folk, for Danny Elfman creates a
consistent atmosphere with his guitar performances for this brief score
and album.
Avoid it... if you want to hear Elfman groove with outward style, a sound limited to just a handful of cues in Taking Woodstock, leaving you wishing you were hearing the songs from the festival instead.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Taking Woodstock: (Danny Elfman) Arguably director
Ang Lee's least acclaimed film to date, the 2009 dramatic comedy
Taking Woodstock was a significant fiscal disaster for
independent studio Focus Features, which sank $30 million into the film
only to see it sneak out of the Cannes Film Festival and slip through a
general distribution with less than $10 million to show for itself
worldwide. The problem with Taking Woodstock was simple: it tells
a partially fictionalized account of the people and circumstances behind
the 1969 Woodstock Festival without actually incorporating much of the
concert itself. The back story of the farm on which the festival took
place, the motel which served as the organizers' headquarters, and the
disdain of the local citizens towards the family that sold out to the
heathen festival are the focus of Taking Woodstock. It's
essentially a character story involving that family, though an
absolutely wretched performance by upstart comedian Demetri Martin in
the lead role was slammed consistently by critics. Ultimately, the same
challenge that destroyed the film's mainstream chances also inhibited
its score by Danny Elfman. While some of the famous music featured at
Woodstock is heard incidentally in the film, there isn't enough of it to
really please the audience, and Elfman's music, in the process of
addressing the character drama and only occasionally teasing you with
instrumental bridge sequences that would seem to suggest that one of the
famous songs is about to erupt, suffers the same fate. Elfman was
perhaps the perfect composer for this film; it not only gave him another
opportunity to chase bad memories of the process of working on Lee's
disastrous The Hulk, but it also allowed him to explore some of
the groovy inclinations that reach back to his 1970's Oingo Boingo days
and, as any composer loves to do, improvise on his favorite instruments
for extended sequences in a score. This assignment could very well have
gone to undeserving multi-Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla, with whom
Lee had experienced great success on Brokeback Mountain, and what
Elfman chose to produce for the score isn't far beyond the realm of
Santaolalla's comfort zone. Fret not Elfman enthusiasts, however,
because the veteran composer's minimal tones will sound significantly
more authentic to your film score collecting ears. That said, there is
absolutely nothing in this score that will remind you of Elfman's major
symphonic works (or even his melodic mannerisms).
Since the songs of the Woodstock concert weren't dominant in their source usage on screen, Elfman was left in a position to be able to explore independent lines of meandering atmosphere without worrying about competing with (or outwardly emulating) those songs. His instrumental choices are instead the key, starting with a blend of acoustic guitar and electric guitar to symbolize the cultural overlap of the folk and rock genres at the time. On top of that, solo clarinet, solo cello, a Hammond organ, and a few occasional synthetic samples or percussion offer the only colors in a work otherwise defined by the guitars. Four of these instruments combine for "Taking Woodstock Titles," a surprisingly somber and strangely ethnic-sounding piece for the guitars, clarinet, and cello. While Elfman spreads a theme consisting of two-note phrases throughout the score, his melodic lines are extended in this opening cue. There is almost a faint tango movement in this cue that gives it a nebulous cultural personality, and its dwelling in the low ranges of all the involved instruments denotes the dire financial circumstances (among other problems of identity crisis) that face the family in the plot. The clarinet and cello contributions are reprised at times in the score, but Taking Woodstock is primarily a chance to hear Elfman's solo guitar performances (which, in all cases, are quite accomplished... This score speaks to his abilities on acoustic and electric guitars to the same degree that The Nightmare Before Christmas did for his voice). The psychedelic influences contributed by the electric guitar bend reality with pitch-defying performances in the first half of the album presentation, though Elfman's more conventional and attractive acoustic guitar cues (of even a slightly more upbeat nature) are prevalent in the last third. On top of an extremely subdued and dapper personality in the majority of Taking Woodstock, however, Elfman's score does face a hurdle which it cannot jump. In his source-like cues, you end up desiring the concert songs themselves, especially in the case of "Groovy Thing (Office #1)." In the remainder, you are left longing for a spark of life, something equivalent to his underrated score for Anywhere But Here ten years earlier. That score combined acoustic and electric guitars with hip percussion (and even vocal attitude and minimal orchestral assistance) in ways that Taking Woodstock never does, potentially urging the listener of the latter score to seek out the limited selections available from the earlier one. Still, you have to admire Elfman's take on Taking Woodstock, even if it doesn't make for a particularly attractive 30-minute listening experience on album. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 29:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a summary of the film's story, but no extra information
about the score.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Taking Woodstock are Copyright © 2009, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/30/10 (and not updated significantly since). |
