Being a music lover myself, and someone who truly believes in the healing power of music and can testify to the power of music, when I first heard of August Rush, I knew I was going to see it. I’ve been recommended this movie by many close friends, some friends who knew how much I loved music, and then friends who just found this to be a quite moving film. They were both right!
August Rush is a beautifully, evocative, musical journey that deals with issues of abandonment, neglect, and speaks about faith in things unseen…but felt. I loved the way music was so neatly and wonderfully interwoven throughout this film, it literally was the dialogue. Seeing as how there wasn’t much in dialogue between the characters, music had to be what communicated emotion, it was the bridge and the glue that made this movie whole and complete.
From the opening scene (which is my favorite scene), a masterpiece of emotion, wind, and nature, all within the confines of an epic wheat field, I was swept away by the movement and connection that August had with sounds and his surroundings. That was the perfect way to open this movie, it immediately brought the audience into August’s world and gave us a touch of the warmth August embraces for music. I love that he’s so young and doesn’t even really know what “music” is, he just hears everything, down to the electricity running through the wires, all the way to how a car horn sounds, and it’s all, to him, harmoniously leading him to his family that he never knew.
If you go into this movie wanting to pick holes apart in its story, you will find that the film falters. You have to go into this movie suspending disbelief and let the emotion, the visual poetry, the heart of this movie sweep you away: music and the passion to create it. Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers play August’s parents, Keri is a successful classical cellist, and Jonathan is a rock ‘n’ roll guitar player. The musical heritage that’s found in this family seen is early on, particularly in one scene where Keri Russell and her cello and Jonathan and his guitar are juxtaposed, creating this intriguing, haunting, classical rock-hybrid that’s a great metaphor for who August is.
The performances are believable and heartfelt, even if the plot and story are a little far fetched. One particular performance really got to me, and that was Robin Williams’ portrayal of “Wizard,” who was a Fagin-esque character, a guy who seemingly wanted to help runaway kids, but who actually exploited their musical giftedness and set them up on street corners playing music, in which, of course, he received a cut of the money they earned. He was almost like a musical pimp to these kids, and I have to be honest, he was a creepy character. What made it even more weird was the fact that he basically looked exactly like Bono, which is who, from what I’ve read, he based his character off of…hopefully in look alone.
The ending of the film, in my opinion, was its weakest part. It seemed like they spent so much energy and time in developing the first and second act to make it believable and heartfelt, which it was, but when it ended, it was so abrupt and left a lot of things unfinished. I realize that a good ole’ happy ending is great to have at times, but still, I would have liked to seen a little more development in the end, if anything, just to give some closure to the story.
It’s wise to ignore the predictability of the plot and the believability of the film and let yourself be captivated by the spell of its intensely passionate tribute to melody and harmony.
Content Warning: Rated PG for some thematic elements, mild violence and language.
