August Rush

Plot synopsis:
In 1995, Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) is a cellist studying at the Juilliard School and living under strict rule of her father (William Sadler). Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the lead singer of "The Connelly Brothers", an Irish rock band. Lyla and Louis meet at a party after their respective concerts, and sleep together on the rooftop under a full moon, to the music of a street performer below. The day after, they separate in a hurry, and are unable to maintain contact as Lyla is ushered away by her father to Chicago. Later, Lyla realizes she is pregnant, and after an argument with her father, she is struck by a car. Due to the accident trauma, she gives birth prematurely, and her father secretly puts the baby boy up for adoption, allowing her to believe that her son died.
Eleven years later, Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore) is living in a boys' orphanage outside New York City, where he meets Richard Jeffries (Terrence Howard), a social worker with Child and Family Services. Evan has the savant-like ability to hear music wherever he is, making him a bullying target for the older orphans. Convinced that his parents will find him, Evan runs away to New York City, "following the music" in the hope it will lead him to his family. He finds a boy named Arthur (Leon Thomas III) performing in Washington Square Park.
Louis, who left the band the same night Lyla was struck, now lives in San Francisco as an agent, while Lyla has also given up performing and now lives in Chicago teaching music. Louis reconnects with his brothers at a birthday party for one of the other band members, and after an argument and fistfight over breaking up the band, he decides to reconnect with the woman he now knows is Lyla. Lyla is called to her father's deathbed, where he confesses that her son is alive and in New York, since her father believed that he was only doing it for both him and his daughter and that that her son could've destroy her future. Lyla abandons her father to his fate and heads to New York to look for him.
Evan follows Arthur to his home in a condemned theater, and is taken in by Maxwell "Wizard" Wallace (Robin Williams), a vagrant, arrogant, abusive and aggressive musician who teaches homeless children music and employs them as street performers. Evan tries playing Wizard's prize guitar, Roxanne, and is so good that Wizard gives him the guitar and his old spot in Washington Square Park (both of which were previously Arthur's). He gives Evan the stage name "August Rush" and tries to market him to clubs. Seeing the posters that Jeffries has posted for the runaway Evan, Wizard destroys all the ones he finds, hoping to keep Evan and his gift for his own gain.
On arriving at Lyla's apartment in Chicago, Louis talks to one of her neighbors, who mistakenly tells Louis she's on her honeymoon. Despairing, he ends up in New York, where he gets his band back together. After Jeffries meets Wizard and Arthur on the street and becomes suspicious, the police raid the derelict theatre in which Wizard and his "children" are living. Wizard helps Evan evade the police, telling him never to reveal his real name to anyone. Evan (now "August") takes refuge in a church where a young girl, Hope (Jamia Simone Nash), introduces him to the piano and written music. He picks up both skills so quickly that Hope gets the attention of the parish pastor (Mykelti Williamson), who takes August to Juilliard where he once again impresses the faculty. A rhapsody takes shape from August's notes and homework.
In New York, Lyla goes to Jeffries' office, and Jeffries identifies Evan as her son. While looking for him, she takes up the cello again and accepts an offer to perform with the Philharmonic at a series of concerts in Central Park. August is selected to perform the rhapsody he's been composing at the same concert. However, Wizard, who found out about August's performance by Arthur, interrupts the rehearsal and claims to be his father, and manages to pull August out of the school. On the day of the outdoor concert, August is back in his spot in Washington Square, while Wizard makes plans to smuggle him around the country to play. He meets Louis and, unaware of their blood relationship, they have an impromptu guitar duet. August tells him of his dilemma, and Louis encourages him to go. That evening, with help from Arthur, August escapes from Wizard through the subway and heads for his concert. Louis, after his own performance with his reunited band, sees Lyla's name on one of the concert banners and also heads for the park. Jeffries finds a misplaced flyer for "August Rush" with a picture, and realizing August is Evan, also heads for the concert.
August arrives in time to conduct his rhapsody, which attracts both Lyla and Louis to the audience, where they are reunited. August finishes his rhapsody and as he turns to discover his parents, he smiles knowing that he has been right all along.

Tags: thought-provoking, romantic, inspiring, flashback

Review:
I was abandoned a second time by one of my parents.The movie "August Rush" was healing to my soul wounded since early childhood;and again, in my early twenties.
Instead of music, I used my talent of writing to deal with the lost of my parents."August Rush" made me fantasize during the movie that my yearning and searching for my parents were like this remarkable child..
The scenes have an appealing fantasy element, while at the same time, the plot manages to explore true-to-life human situations such as bullying of those who are different.The music is incredible, and mostly consists of original scores.
It includes gospel, rock and classical, seamlessly integrated in a new way that works extremely well.The plot is somewhat predictable and possibly a little "sappy", but those elements are easily overcome by the moment-to-moment execution of the story.
Think of a modernized "Oliver" with Robin Williams as Fagin to a group of homeless, musically talented kids...plus extra elements of romance and intrigue, and you will have a bit of an idea about this movie.The three main characters are all physically "beautiful" people who manage to convey the story with a minimum of dialog.
In the end, this movie is at least an endorsement and celebration of the significance of music in our lives and at most a transcendent, fun experience to watch.I rarely like to see any movie more than once, but definitely want to see this again.
There were some errors but for the most part I applaud the film makers for the attention to the musical details.Yes the movie was a bit bit corny, and a little over the top, but for the most part I loved it and suggested it to every one..
Although at times, there may seem like there are gaps in the story line/character development, the point of this is that the music is what communicates those hidden details of the movie.Overall, this film is a masterpiece that should be cherished by music-lovers everywhere..
Ridiculously laughable story, hammy, bad acting, sub par music, zero chemistry between the two romantic leads, sticky sweet, implausible plot are only a few of the ways I can describe this incredibly bad movie.
I don't want to give anything away, in case for some insane reason you want to see it, so I'll only go into the story problems in the first 15 minutes.The actors were trying their hearts out--except Robin Williams, whom I normally love but found false and unsatisfying--and in some cases were able to overcome the material and give fairly good performances(Terence Howard, Kerri Russell).
While the viewer knows what will eventually happen, there is still much film to go...during which you see Evan's amazing talents burst forth AND an evil manipulator, 'the Wizard' (Robin Williams, sees the boy's potential and takes him in and puts him to work.
Robin Williams seems to be making a different movie than everyone else.Look, we're not cynics; we love "Love, Actually," "About a Boy," and all of Frank Capra, but the story has to seduce you in, not knock you to your knees; has to have a level of believability that doesn't require you to swallow logs when straining at gnats.This was a dud.
With a star cast that consisted of Robin Williams, Terence Howard, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and one of the biggest star kids in Hollywood -Freddie Highmore, a story about a musical genius, it has to be a brilliant movie, hasn't it?
And since the movie revolves around music and the fact that August is a "prodigy", more effort should have been put into teaching the kid to look like he knew anything about music or conducting.
People who have never considered nor been exposed to the processes behind music might not notice a problem, but to those who have, the film's central character will more closely resemble a comic-book-superhero version of a musician than any musician, genius or no, who has ever lived.This young lad's extraordinary ability (to reach professionalism at any instrument, and even theory\notation, within seconds of coming into contact with it for the first time) is only a symptom of the problem.
I don't remember the last time I saw a Hollywood film which genuinely felt like it was the vision of an artist who really had something to say.Perhaps this film actually was written by someone who loves and understands music and wanted to convey something about it, but the fact that you can't tell simply by watching the film is a testament to its failure..
The father says the kid died but really he had given the boy to child services.Meanwhile, the boy - now 11 and living in an orphanage - runs off to New York City somehow figuring that magically, through hearing music, he'll meet his parents.
It weakly conveys that the main character (a boy named Evan Taylor) believes he has some kind of control over the field, but it falls short of the intended correlation to his sensation of "music everywhere" which is better illustrated later in the film.
Instead, my friends, I am going to tell you to please, use some of your time watching this movie, so you can come back here and rate it with this one little painful star, as I did.
Com'on, ye people of sense and sensibility, join me and suffer this movie and be merry you found the strength and then give it the only rating it deserves....PS: I am not going to elaborate on the "oh-you're-so-mean!" side characters and the sanctified trinity of the main characters and their ridiculously hollow "deep" emotions within their hearts of jelly who have no backbone to ever efficiently stand up for themselves and all they do is cry and moan and dream under the moon and hope that their sorry lives will be solved by cosmical deliverance because they sure won't do a thing since they are made of childish fairy-jelly glow, ...nor on the plot and dialogue silliness, and such, ...because you can read all about it on other reviews.
The story is taken directly from Oliver Twist, but the actual events, it isn't even believable in the fairytale context that it is told.The central love story is based on a night of rooftop sex with strangers who have about 3 minutes of the corniest lines I could possibly come up with before going at it like guinea pigs in heat: Who are you Lyla?" She pauses, smiles then looks off in the distance, "I'm just..
me." And it just goes on and on like that.The rest of the movie is filled with similar vomit inducing dialogue; I don't know how many times "You've got to believe in your music" was repeated.Most of the characters are cardboard cutouts: There's rich cellist girl with overbearing father, brooding punk rocker, inner city black kid who talks just like you'd expect, and perpetually dazed and confused skinny white kid who gets picked on but always follows his dream.The cinematography is mostly boring and standard, what you might see in a car commercial or something similarly mundane.
A lighter touch in directing, and better musical direction would have turned this into a good film - the story is interesting, but it was painted with a jackhammer instead of a brush..
I rented August Rush a few days ago with good expectations, I just heard wonderful things about this film, so I was excited to see it.
We also have the talented Jonathan Rhys Meyers from the Tudors, the incredible Terrence Howard, then a disturbing yet memorable performance from Robin Williams.Evan Taylor is an orphan who is just convinced that he can hear his parent's music, that they do want him and he goes out to find them.
Evan is set to find his parents but come across a musical group of kids, who are making money for Wizzard, when Evan plays music, it's magical, Wizzard exposes Evan giving him a new name, August Rush and makes money off of him.
But when Lyla finds out about her son being alive, she goes to New York to find him, Louis starts thinking about Lyla and finds out where she lives, Chicago, but when he finds out she's gone, he goes to New York to relive his band days, instead they find each other and the musical genius their love created.August Rush is one of the first films of the year that I'm rating a perfect 10, because there is nothing wrong with this film, to be honest, I think it deserves a higher rating than a 7.4.
August Rush is a movie that I'm sure will work it's way into your heart, it's a magical film that is absolutely perfect.10/10.
He believes that he will find his parents if they only hear his music, because they are truly bonded by their music.(My Comment) The movie is a human interest story about a young boy's unyielding faith and will power to never give up on his dream.
Mozart would be an absolute imbecile compared to this little kid August Rush, and for those familiar with music, this aspect (the foundation, really) just kills the movie.It is impossible to play like Michael Hedges in your first few minutes with a guitar.
However, I just finished watching August Rush and I am in no way exaggerating when I say that it is by far the best movie I have ever seen.
It not only grabs your heart from the very first scene but it grabs your soul within the first thirty minutes and by the time the movie's climax arrives you're in it so deep that whether you're Mr. Macho who wouldn't cry at his own mother's funeral or just someone who's bored and wants to see something that will be worth watching you will undoubtedly be wiping your eyes with your shirt sleeve and not caring who sees because everyone around you will be wetting their sleeves as well.
I know its a musical, but i think listening to ARR songs is a better resort to watching this incredibly stupid sappy cheesy movie.3\10.
This is one of the most ridiculous movies I've watched in recent years.Essentially its the story of an orphan who is trying to find his parents and does so through music.It comes across like a fairytale, but even Alice In Wonderland was more realistic than this.
Im not sure who would actually enjoy this movie, maybe if you're 70, or under 12 but for everyone else I'd save your time.The acting itself wasn't bad, though the more interesting characters were played by Terrence Howard and Robin Williams, and they were both severely under-developed as you wanted to know more about them and less about this kid with the stupid smile all the time..
However, while the movie has a modern setting, it shares many plot elements with OLIVER TWIST, ending even better.It begins with a young couple of musicians that meets and has a one-night stand, and when she becomes pregnant her dad does everything to make her believe that the child died at birth, although he just put the child for adoption.A decade later the boy, Evan, lives in a orphanage and is mocked by the other kids because of his talents in music, that makes him like a savant with powerful skills.
In the meanwhile an inexplicable series of circumstances draw his mother and dad that search for their son (after they discovered he is NOT dead), but also Evan ends in New York, becoming a star for his talents in music while a evil man, Michael Wallace known as ''the Wizard'' (Robin Williams in a rare villanious role) takes advantage of the boy and wants to make money with his talents.
The story touched my heart that I nearly cried...I think that "August Rush" should get Oscar's for at least music.
Such a music I can listen for hours and days and it ever makes me bored off it.Seriously I can say that the first time I saw preview, I knew that it will be maybe the best movie during my life and actually it is.
If you are a true music fan, musician, or even love soundtracks in the sense of Instrumentals, then this film will be a hit with you.No film, in years of my life have touched me the way this film has, how has this film gone under the radar for so long?
The movie tells a story of a orphan boy who is a musical genius and who believes that his parents will find one day .
Imagine a modern version of Oliver Twist, add beautiful classical and rock music and finish the mix with a somewhat predictable, but nevertheless intriguing love story and "August Rush" is the best that you can possible make out of it.By watching the opening scene, showing Freddie Highmore in a corn field, I already suspected this could become something very special.
I have never seen or heard anything like it and I sincerely hope that I'll one day watch a movie that does an even better job.
Perhaps it's better to categorize this movie as being targeted at people of all ages, that love music and want to see a feel-good movie with beautiful music and top notch acting.
I was hoping for him and moved by the music he felt in the world around him.Normally I don't watch movies of this genre, but August Rush captured my emotions.
Howard is a fine actor as shown earlier this year in The Brave One (see my review) but he's not given one of the bigger and more important roles and not a lot to work with so he kind of gets out shined.I am not a musical expert nor a musician of any kind, much to my disappointment so they could have played those instruments in the film with their feet and it couldn't have mattered to me.
You will either buy into this contrived tale of orphan who hears music then runs off New York to find his parents or you won't.I didn't.Cloyingly cute I had no patience for it and squirmed from the opening bits of the kid conducting the wind, through the flash back meeting of young rock star dad and rich girl cellist torn apart by her disapproving dad, on to the really annoying Robin "Please put my head in a duck press to make me stop screaming" Williams and then to the oh gee ending.
Although this film plays well to a broad audience, it is very mystical and based on simple, yet emotional themes that will play flat to some movie-goers.If you have strong parental feelings or enjoy movies centered on the power of human love and attraction, this story will move you like few films ever have.
However, if you are easily bored with themes that are lacking in danger and suspense or prefer gritty true-to-life movies, this one may come off as a disappointment.The screenplay seems written as a spiritual message intimating that there is an energy field that connects all of life, and music is one of the domains available to any who care to experience it.The plot is simple but deep in implication- an orphaned boy wants to reunite with his parents and feels that his inherited musical genius can somehow guarantee their return.
I was not impressed.The acting was unconvincing, the character development nonexistent: Russell, who spends most of the film gazing wistfully at various points on the horizon, evokes virtually no sympathy as a woman who loses her son and lapses into a decade-long depression; Rhys-Meyers is flat and uninspiring as August's tortured rock-musician-turned-bond-trader father ("I'm sad...I'm Irish...I'm sad"); and Williams is only mildly creepy as Wizard, the Fagin-like ringmaster of a coterie of musical ragamuffins who live in (of course!) an abandoned theater.
August Rush is quite simply one of the best movies I have seen in years.
This was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time, maybe ever...The music, the dialogue, the story, it all speaks right to the heart and it leaves you glowing with happiness and admiration.
I thought the premise of the story was a good one; A boy given up for adoption attempts to find his birth parents, because his love for music gives him the sense that his parents are still alive.
I'm not a fan of musical movies; however, I thought I would give this film a try.
Once I watched the kid Freddie Highmore tearing for the loss of his parents I was starting to get attached to the movie, and once I started tasting the music this film contains and with all beautiful emotions flying around I was amazed and could not take my eyes off the screen till the finish..
This movie has some great acting it makes you believe like it's an actual story.
Overall this movie is great for both the family and also for anyone interested in Music, it was truly inspirational, I loved it, it was everything I expected and more, its definitely underrated..
If the story intrigues you, see it, I'm pretty sure you'll feel good too:-).August Rush is worth watching for us who still have some dreams inside of us and don't need to be reminded of the world we live in all the time!.
'Evan Taylor' AKA August Rush (Freddie Highmore) is placed in an orphanage, longing for parents he believes he can 'hear' in the music of the spheres.
There's only a few movies a year that you watch and you just don't want it to end..
Amazing movie with an incredible story about a little boy who never gave up and kept faith.I watched this several times with my mom, she loves it, and it is an excellent family movie.
August Rush is a must watch film because it's a very inspirational story.Remarkable movie filled with love, art, music, inspiration, and hope.