August Rush Rated PG (for some thematic elements, mild violence and language) Genre:Drama Theater release: November 21, 2007 by Warner Brothers Directed by: Kirsten Sheridan Runtime: 112 minutes Cast: Freddie Highmore (Evan / August Rush), Keri Russell (Lyla Novacek), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Louis Connelly), Robin Williams (Wizard), Terrence Howard (Richard Jeffries), William Sadler (Thomas Novacek), Leon G. Thomas III (Arthur), Jamia Simone Nash (Hope) Related: • Talk About It/Family Corner • What Others Are Saying

"I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales." So says a boy named Evan (Freddie Highmore) at the beginning of August Rush, and right from the start, it is clear that we in the audience are being asked to believe in both of these things as well. Evan says he can sense music in everything around him, and as he stands outside, closes his eyes, and waves his hands through the wind and blades of grass, the film invites us to experience the sounds around him not as so much noise but as delicate instruments in a subtle, graceful symphony that only Evan can hear.

If this film is guided by any one template, though, it is not that of the symphony or the fairy tale, but rather that of Oliver Twist. Just as the Charles Dickens novel concerned an orphaned boy who runs away, falls in with the wrong crowd, and then learns of his true heritage, so too August Rush concerns a boy, Evan, who was abandoned at birth but makes his way to New York City convinced that he can find his birth parents—both of whom, it happens, were talented musicians.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Louis Connelly, Keri Russell as Lyla Novacek

If this film is a "fairy tale," it is mainly because the parents are still alive, albeit living in different cities, and they seem to share an almost mystical bond with each other and with their son, even though they have never met him before.

In flashbacks, we see how Lyla Novacek (Waitress's Keri Russell), an acclaimed classical cellist, met and shared a romantic evening with Louis Connelly (The Tudors' Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a singer and guitarist with an Irish rock 'n' roll band. And before they meet, on a rooftop overlooking Washington Square, they each perform in concerts that are edited together in such a way as to suggest that they were meant to make beautiful music together, despite the differences between their genres.

After their one night together, Louis and Lyla talk about meeting again, but they are kept apart by Lyla's father (William Sadler). Not only does he rush Lyla off to her next concert, but when it turns out she's pregnant—and a car accident causes her to give birth prematurely—he gives the child to an adoption agency and tells Lyla she lost the baby. Years pass, and Lyla and Louis are both so disheartened that they give up their music—but their son Evan grows up to become a musical prodigy.

Freddie Highmore as August Rush

It takes a while for him to realize his talents, though. Upon arriving in the big city, Evan meets Arthur (Leon G. Thomas III), a boy with a guitar who introduces Evan to a Fagin-like mentor named Wizard (Robin Williams), who lives with Arthur and a bunch of other homeless children in an abandoned theatre. The moment Evan puts his hands on a guitar, it turns out he is a genuine virtuoso, even though he has never played the instrument before—and so Wizard immediately tries to get Evan some gigs in local bars, figuring there is better money in posing as his "manager" than there is in collecting the earnings of the various underaged buskers.

It is Wizard who gives Evan his stage name, August Rush, pinched at random from a sign on a passing truck. And Evan keeps the name, even after he and Wizard are separated by a police raid. Evan finds shelter in a church, and turns out to be a pro at playing the piano, so the reverend enrolls him in Juilliard, where he goes on to create a symphony which, he hopes, will put him back in touch with his parents. And while all this is going on, we see that his parents are, indeed, inexplicably drawn back to New York, and to the musical careers that they had once abandoned.

Directed by Kirsten Sheridan (co-writer of In America) from a script by Paul Castro, Nick Castle and James V. Hart (the latter two of whom collaborated on Steven Spielberg's Hook), August Rush has a light, fanciful touch at times that bolsters its "fairy tale" feel. But at times it goes too far, and the story also incorporates just enough "realistic" elements to drag the whole thing back down to earth.

Robin Williams as Wizard, August's unofficial 'manager'

Case in point: When Evan shows up at the church, the reverend just accepts him as though he were an angel come down from heaven—and the way he says this, he just might mean it more than metaphorically—but when Evan goes missing again, the reverend calls the social workers to report a missing child. But wait a minute, why didn't the reverend call the social workers when Evan showed up in the first place? It is one thing to ask an audience to suspend its disbelief; it is quite another to do so when your movie keeps giving the audience reasons to disbelieve.

The film also suffers from some uninspired visuals, especially in the climactic scene, where the theme of reunion—the big pay-off that the film has been building toward all this time—is undercut by the use of close-ups, which tend to isolate characters within the frame instead of emphasizing their togetherness.

Problems like that aside, the film does have its merits, suggesting as it does that the world is full of mystery and purpose, if only we take the time to listen. It helps that the film has a decent score by Mark Mancina and some nimble work by Kaki King, whose hands we see in the close-ups when Evan plays the guitar. One character remarks that music communicates without words and pictures, and at times, in this film, the music suffices even when the words and pictures let it down.

Talk About It

Discussion starters

1. Evan and Wizard agree that the world is filled with music, but only some people can hear it—possibly because only some people are listening. Do you agree? Is the world filled with music? Could everybody hear it if they listened hard enough? 2. What is the nature of this music? In what way does music reflect the way humans bear the image of God, or the way God has filled creation with his creativity? 3. Wizard says you can't learn music from books. Do you agree? In what ways do books help us to explore our talents? In what ways might they limit us?

The Family Corner

For parents to consider

August Rush is rated PG for some thematic elements (a woman has a child after spending one night with a man, though both she and the man are wearing all their clothes when they wake up in the morning; a homeless child says his mother ran off with a crackhead; police raid an abandoned theater populated by homeless children and the man who lives off of their earnings), mild violence (brothers throw a punch or two at each other), and language (a few phrases like "damn fool").

Photos © Copyright Warner Brothers

© Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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