“The music is all around us — all you have to do is listen.”
Endearing orphans, sad and lost musicians, well-meaning clergy and social workers can often combine to create something saccharine and too predictable. But award-winning director Kirsten Sheridan shows she can aptly strike the balance between realistic and cloying. August Rush comes off as true as any fairy tale can, maybe even more so.
This is the story of an 11-year-old orphan named Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore) who lives in a home for boys. Although the bucolic setting is pretty, poor young Evan suffers emotional torment from some of the meaner guys. They want to squash his eternal optimism and sunshiny belief that his parents are out there somewhere, waiting for and wanting him.
His story really begins with the meeting of his parents. Lila Novacek (Keri Russell) is a concert cellist with a promising career and Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a talented guitarist who plays in his brother’s rock band. They meet one mystical night, coming together by way of a mutual attraction to a distant street busker’s rendition of Van Morrison’s “Moondance.” As they chat, their attraction turns from the music to each other. Being a PG-rated movie, their physical union is conveyed by their waking up together (fully dressed) on the morning after. Lila is mortified, and goes into panic mode, while Louis is still the picture of contented after-glow. He does manage to get her to agree to meet later that day, as she grants him a “yeah, you didn’t imagine it – I am in love with you too” smile.
The movie continues with these many far-fetched bits – but it’s easy to just shove the common sense out of your mind because the story is just so darn appealing. Of course Lila gets pregnant, of course Louis doesn’t know, as they are now in different cities. Oh sure, they almost had their meet-up that first day — at least Louis gets to see Lila’s dad sternly hustling her into a car as she gives him a departing plaintive glance. So, our lovely Lila is pregnant, but due to an accident, she ends up in the hospital without her baby. Her dad lies and tell her the baby didn’t live – when in secret he’s forged her signature on adoption documents, and now 11 years later we are graced with young Evan and his Dickensian dilemmas.
Article comments
1 - Fitz
Loved this movie. Great review. And the soundtrack is also awesome. :)
2 - Mary K. Williams
Thanks Fitz. No matter how many plot holes or evidence of the heavy hand of Hollywood - yeah, I still loved this movie too.
I think I'll have to look for that soundtrack too.