Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation
| Release Date: May 24, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatChris SalceJun 13, 2019
There have been a lot of documentaries about the historic Woodstock festival, but many have not discussed much other than the performance aspect of it. This documentary lets the ones who were there discuss what it took to put the festival together, the challenges the festival faced, the unity of everyone involved, and what it meant to the country during a critical time. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 26, 2019
I was shocked at how emotional the film, covering familiar ground with a lot of familiar footage, could be. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 23, 2019
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation, directed by Barak Goodman, uses the perspective of nearly 50 years’ hindsight to demonstrate anew how the festival was both a mess and a miracle, and implicitly argues that it was a good deal more miracle than mess. Read full review
75
The PlaylistChristian GallichioJun 3, 2019
As a primer for deeper dives, including Wadleigh’s film, it’s mainly successful, contextualizing the events and providing some never-before-seen footage. Yet for those already versed in what transpired on Yasgur’s farm, Goodman’s film is really just playing the hits. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiMay 22, 2019
Throughout, the era-defining yet problem-plagued music festival astounds in large part for all the disasters that didn’t occur. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 6, 2019
The events of Woodstock have been told, so it’s refreshing that this documentary draws out the details one might not have heard before — the food donations from the town, the volunteer Army doctors, the attendees who stayed to pick up trash. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 19, 2019
While Goodman and Ephron’s film abides by a “peace & love 101” approach that might prove tiresome for people who already know about Wavy Gravy or the inclement weather that threatened to rain out an entire movement, this lucid and entertaining look back in time gradually twists that broadness into its greatest strength. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 19, 2019
Barak Goodman's straightforward Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation plays to this group of nostalgic Baby Boomers, offering a rosy view of the titular event that for many is synonymous with Peace & Love Read full review
55
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanMay 19, 2019
Given that we already have a documentary that captures the event so successfully from inside the era, it’s curious that the filmmakers don’t try to mine a perspective beyond nostalgia Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleJoel SelvinMay 29, 2019
This conventional PBS-style piece intends to deliver the story behind the event without much more than the slightest nod to the music, which is shunted to the side in this telling of the already oft-told story. Read full review
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