August Rush is set in New York and follows the fortunes of Evan (Freddie Highmore), a 10 year old boy who was put into an orphanage as a baby. Evan hates his mundane and limited life and is determined to escape the orphanage where he is picked on by the other boys because he maintains that he can hear music in anything - a corn-field, telegraph wires, a crowded street. Evan knows his parents are still alive and believes that he is connected to them through the music that he hears. Evan's parents, by a twist of fate, do not know that he exists. His father is Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an Irish rock singer when Evan was born, now a businessman in the city who suddenly decides to find the mysterious girl he spent a night with ten years before. That girl was Lyla (Keri Russell), a brilliant cellist, who now only teaches music to other people's children. Lyla has been lead to believe that Evan died at birth but when she discovers he is still alive she sets out to find him.
August Rush is a magical film and I was truly enchanted by it. Although touted as a romance it is more of a family film than you might think. For me it evoked memories of watching films as a child, being completely taken in by what is happening on the screen no matter how unrealistic. I don't always buy into films that take such a rosy view of the world but this broke down any such cynicism in me; anyone who's ever believed in the magical power of music to unite people will enjoy the message of this film. It's the perfect film for Christmas - beautiful, well-crafted and spell-binding. If Ebenezer Scrooge had seen this film he wouldn't have needed all those ghosts and crippled Victorian orphans to restore his faith in humanity.
August Rush is a magical film and I was truly enchanted by it. Although touted as a romance it is more of a family film than you might think. For me it evoked memories of watching films as a child, being completely taken in by what is happening on the screen no matter how unrealistic. I don't always buy into films that take such a rosy view of the world but this broke down any such cynicism in me; anyone who's ever believed in the magical power of music to unite people will enjoy the message of this film. It's the perfect film for Christmas - beautiful, well-crafted and spell-binding. If Ebenezer Scrooge had seen this film he wouldn't have needed all those ghosts and crippled Victorian orphans to restore his faith in humanity.