A review of the feature film "August Rush" that recognizes the movie is intended as a fairytale and that highlights the film's work with sound and with music.
“August Rush” has been unfairly lambasted by a number of critics for being “implausible.” Implausible? Since when was plausibility a quality desired by the modern Hollywood or typical movie-goers? Indeed, aren’t these the same critics who regularly line up behind summer blockbusters that rely on stunts and technology and if stripped bare would demonstrate implausible, typically even silly storylines? Some have said of “August Rush” that is defies realism. Given that the opening credit sequence displays a child “conducting” the wind, making it swirl in complex patterns through a field of tall grass, it is a fair argument that the movie makes its position regarding realism plainly evident, and that many critics simply got it wrong.
Improbable Plot or Purposeful Invention?
What is a more accurate summation of the film, released in late November 2007 and directed by Kirsten Sheridan for Warner Brothers) is to criticize it for being too sweet, too saccharine, as several critics have noted. It must be said, the film is a bit over-sweet, like a sugary dessert, but perhaps the more important note is that the film does so knowingly. One could even say that is the point. Celebrated critic Roger Ebert was one of the few smart enough to see this intention, saying it is “a movie drenched in sentimentality, but it’s supposed to be.” It is supposed to be, and given the current war, the current economy, and the general malaise present throughout much of the country, maybe we need some sentimentality and some hope. A “twist,” if you will, on Oliver Twist, the movie is truly about hope, such hope that its characters come to believe in the improbable.
The story pursues an orphan, Evan Taylor, and his bid to find his parents. Evan discovers his unnatural musical abilities—indeed he proves a true prodigy—and he eventually transforms (with both the help and hindrance of “Wizard,” played by Robin Williams) into August Rush. Using his musical talent and his growing celebrity, he hopes he can find his parents, ably played by Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and hopes that the common bond of music might reunite them. His mother is a classical musician, his father an Irish rocker. The storyline does become something of a fantasy, as if a fledgling’s ability to play like a virtuoso on a guitar the first time he touches it isn’t the stuff of fantasy. Fantasy is what the movie offers, and if viewers allow themselves to suspend disbelief, they will gladly enter a world where magic, and great music, happen.
Love and Music
Its star is a child, hence another risk of inevitable sweetness, and Freddie Highmore does a quality job of portraying Evan Taylor/August Rush. Yes, there are times where Highmore is set up by Sheridan to be too cherubic, yet the fuller effect of the film and Highmore’s work creating August are worth it. There is a great love story—unless we’re too jaded to like love stories anymore too—and great music. Indeed, the soundtrack of Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer might be worth the movie ticket. And it must be said that the work with opening up a larger world of sound beyond the music is innovative and original, and Rick Hrmadka (Sound Design) and Scott Hecker (Supervising Sound Editor) deserve recognition.
Jaded Critics: A Much Better Film than Most Critics Will Allow
If you can’t stomach fairytales, then skip it. But if you’re a bit tired of winter weather, paying bills that get bigger every month, presidential politics, and a languishing war, perhaps you’ll benefit from something that is quite admittedly very sweet.
