By Linda Winsh-Bolard
They were young, talented and had their first break and their first night of love. He was a rock singer called Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and she, Lyla Novacek (Kerri Russel), the budding cellist, was pregnant with a child she was told died in birth. Louis never knew he had a son. They did not reconnect. Indelibly the child changed their lives, one became a music teacher, the other a banker.
Eleven years went by before the child in question, Evan (Freddie Highmore) run away following the music that always played in his head and ended up with a talented, old crazy man called Wizard, who taught him how to play.
When Lyla’s father was dying, he admitted that her son was alive, and Lyla started to look for Evan, with the help of child services. Inevitably the police again raided the place where the musical kids were hiding. Evan, now August Rush, run. Hidden under the bed of a young girl he ended up in music school composing a concerto- a true prodigy.
Yet, just like his mother, he does all of it just to find his parents. Among the three only Louis faces himself for himself when he chucks his career to play rock again.
It is sweet and melancholic to the point of irritation, yet and that has to be admitted it never crosses the thin line between a fairy tale and ersatz cliché.
With all the staging of contemporary life and some references to child protection system, if taken as a reality it would be impossible to sit through it. When firmly set in fairy tales land, it might evoke some far removed shadow of Charles Dickens but is indeed very far from Oliver Twist. This is a miraculous child, not only in his absurdly good music-that part is the most disturbing in the film, as in the society where many expect immediate reward, to show a child who excels at his chosen artistic profession within minutes is unhealthy-but also in his beatific certainty that his music will bring him his desired parents and these will love him for ever.
It is utterly predictable. Not just in the outcome but also even within the separate life of the main characters. What saves it are mostly visuals and editing.
The camera often finds beauty in exteriors, plays with close ups and uses diffuse light to create the mood. The editing is sometimes fantastic mix of picture and sound evoking emotions rather than any continuous real action, yet it serves its purpose and manages to tell part of the story. Particularly at the beginning, when the mix of the two opening concerts, one classical, one rock, and the people involved presets Lyla and Louis at that time of their life.
Robin Williams is truly crazy Wizard, caught in his mistrust of people and his love for music. Freddie Highmore is such a sweet guy, indeed so sweet he is, and sweetly presented, that it borders on sugar-spun improbability, not an acting problem, it’s director’s choice. Jonathan Rhys Meyers get a lots of close ups to show the sensitivity of a modern chap with musical soul. Why did he never call? Why didn’t Lyla? At least she had a reason to be torn between wanting and dreading after she lost the baby, he did not. Well, as I said don’t look too closely for any reason or you will be disappointed.
Kirsten Sheridan, written by Nick Castle, James V.Hart, Camera: John Mathieson, Original Music: Marc Mancina.
