Movie Review for August Rush (2007)

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August Rush

Review #572 of 365
Movie Review of August Rush (2007) [PG] 104 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.50
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 21 November 2007
Time: 10:00 pm
DVD Release Date: 11 March 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from August Rush - August Rush (Music from the Motion Picture) - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Kirsten Sheridan (Disco Pigs)
Screenplay by: Nick Castle (Escape from L.A.) • James V. Hart (The Last Mimzy) with story by Paul Castro and Nick Castle

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Freddie Highmore (Arthur and the Invisibles) • Keri Russell (Waitress) • Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Mission: Impossible III) • Terrence Howard (The Brave One) • Robin Williams (License to Wed) • William Sadler (A New Wave) • Marian Seldes (Mona Lisa Smile) • Mykelti Williamson (ATL) • Leon G. Thomas III ("Jack's Big Music Show") • Aaron Staton (The Nanny Diaries) • Alex O'Loughlin (The Invisible) • Jamia Simone Nash ("Jack's Big Music Show")

Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to see photos from the Premiere of August Rush
Click to read the spoiler points for August Rush
The kernel idea, the germ of narrative for the amazing story of August Rush is that there is a harmonic musical connection between all living things and that if a little, orphaned musical prodigy can just play his song loudly enough, his parents will hear and find him. It's a truly lovely notion, and given this, the story will automatically tug at your heart strings. Below this story, though are the parallel stories of 4 adults, all of whom suffered obvious complications when it came to their own growth and development such that each stands in his or her own way as an obstacle toward the reunion of the boy and his parents. It is in these menagerie of grownups that the film's story falters creating needless and even sometimes wicked conflict veering off the central story too far.

At the heart of the story, and where it should have stayed, was one night of passionate romance between two young musicians: Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)—the lead singer of the Connelly Bros. Band—and Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell)—a cello virtuoso from the Julliard School of Music. They meet by chance on the rooftop of a building where they are both seeking refuge from a party they attended to escape the demands of their lives: Louis from his controlling brother Marshall (Alex O'Loughlin) and Lyla from the manipulations of her father Thomas (William Sadler). Their obvious connection ends in a night of unprotected passion. Unfortunately, they are also forced to separate by their puppeteers, Louis heading off to San Francisco, and Lyla eventually ending up pregnant. A fight with her domineering father lands her in a car accident and hospital where she's told by him that she lost the baby, when, really, he forged her signature on the adoption papers and turned the child, a baby boy, over to the state. Was he doing the right thing for her or for him? Years later, the boy, now called Evan (Freddie Highmore), is seen growing up in a special orphanage farm for boys in upstate New York. Here he's maltreated and abused by the older boys, especially since he's the only kid there under some delusion that his parents will actually come to get him. A kindly, but bureaucratic social worker named Richard Jeffries (Terrence Howard) tries to encourage Evan to accept placement with a family rather than hoping his biological parents will show up out of the blue.

"… the film produces mixed feelings. The wondrous emergence of August Rush and Freddie Highmore's brilliant almost autistic savant-like performance should have been the absolute focus of the film."
But, Evan won't hear of it; and, when his parents never show, he wanders from the home one evening after his passion for the music of nature draws him mysteriously toward Manhattan—the true place of his birth. Fortunately, he's not killed or abducted, rather a friendly produce truck driver give him a lift to a frenetic street market. His kindly savior places a call to Jeffries for him, pops him a few bucks for food, and tells him to wait there for Jeffries. Before Evan can be picked up, though, he wanders off searching for the source of the music in his heart. A street urchin straight out of Oliver Twist eventually invites him to his home--an abandoned theater run by 'Wizard' (Robin Williams). In exchange for some of the creature comforts of a sort of home and family, Wizard 'employs' the kids as street minstrels. They must turn over all the 'family money' at the end of each day. When Wizard discovers that Evan is a musical prodigy, his entire demeanor changes. He goes from being a father figure trying to save as many kids as possible to a possessive stage parent driven to set Evan up with high earning gigs. Together, they come up with a new stage name for him, August Rush. But, when Wizard becomes too aggressive, August flees and ends up in the basement of a church where a little girl named Hope (Jamia Simone Nash) teaches him to write music. A few days later, he finds himself at the Julliard School himself learning everything there is to know about music.

Clearly, Wizard has a troubled past—perhaps he, too, was abandoned. Nothing concrete is provided, but Jeffries seems to care more than he should, maybe because he was victim of the system himself. In any case, Wizard becomes the film's chief antagonist working tirelessly to position himself as August's manager. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, though he turns mean, malicious, and controlling. With these men in his life, and his biological parents no where to be found, August turns to his music and his belief that, with time, he can broadcast his music and they will find him. For the film to work, there has to be a lot of acceptance of the notion that the harmonic connections in the universe will work everything out on the part of the viewer. Without that acceptance, the luck that ensues and the coincidences are astronomically improbable. But this is the bread and butter of heart-warming films.

"… without the incredible music [by Mark Mancina], especially August's Rhapsody, the film would have been utterly unremarkable."
It's too bad that the writer had to stir up unnecessary conflicts and the dark side of Wizard—as if being without a family of loved ones weren't enough for poor August Rush. All of this ancillary drama genuinely detracted from the core of the story that turns out to be August's music, and his musical gift is astonishing. Which, given that the music is actually the work of composer Mark Mancina, in many ways, he is actually the unsung star of the film, for without the incredible music, especially August's Rhapsody, the film would have been utterly unremarkable. It is the magnificent music that August derives from the sounds of the real world at work, that gives the film life.

Director Kirsten Sheridan may have been thinking too hard in both directing and editing the film. The cool part about it would have been to allow August and his music to be more of the force they should have been and focus less on the malevolent do-gooders in the story. Why did Wizard need to turn out to be a bad guy? Robin Williams is one of those amazing funny people, who become nearly too scary when they become villainous. There's no possible way I'd take young children to see this film and bear witness to the physical and mental abuse Wizard takes out on August. And, likewise, for the excessively 'creepy' behavior of Lyla's father and Louis's brother. With genes from these two, it's a wonder that August has turned out such a neat little kid. Keri Russell learned to actually play the cello for her role. This accounts for the authentic nature of her fingering work. While she's adequate to her role, this was not that big of a role for her. Likewise for Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The two do an excellent job of establishing the love-at-first-sight passion that leads to August's conception, but beyond that, their characters are weak, and they are portrayed as such.

Overall, the film produces mixed feelings. The wondrous emergence of August Rush and Freddie Highmore's brilliant almost autistic savant-like performance should have been the absolute focus of the film. Watching him play and develop is where all the energy should have gone. Too much time was given to the Wizard character and then the states in which Lyla and Louis end up. Both are deeply sad, but apparently not enough to pursue finding one another. The music is phenomenal, striking, engaging, and often breath-taking. This film proved to be a case where fewer distractions and more emphasis on the really cool parts would have made a substantially positive difference.

Still Photo Gallery for August Rush (2007)

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Louis Connelly

Keri Russell as Lyla Novacek

Freddie Highmore as August Rush

Freddie Highmore as August Rush

Robin Williams as Maxwell 'Wizard' Wallace

Terrence Howard as Richard Jeffries

Lyla Novacek and Louis Connelly -- one night

August conducts his Rhapsody
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Other Projects Featuring August Rush (2007)
Cast Members
Freddie Highmore • Keri Russell • Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Terrence Howard • Robin Williams • William Sadler
Marian Seldes • Mykelti Williamson • Leon G. Thomas III
Aaron Staton • Jamia Simone Nash
Director
Kirsten Sheridan
Writers
Nick Castle • James V. Hart
CD Soundtrack
DVD
VHS
Review-lite August Rush (2007) [max of 150 words]
Somewhere along the way, Kirsten Sheridan's August Rush lost its focus, perhaps taking on too many big personalities in the form of ancillary characters. This drew attention away from what really sets the film apart and that his the story of a young musical prodigy getting to Julliard School and composing some of the most sensational and revolutionary music anyone has ever heard—all really the work of composer Mark Mancina who is the unsung hero of the film. Without the music, even with Freddie Highmore's sensationa;, albeit autistic-savant-like portrayal, the film would not have held half the degree of interest.
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