A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: August Rush

Date Viewed: 11/24/07

Details:

Freddie Highmore

Keri Russell

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Terrence Howard

Robin Williams

Director: Kirsten Sheridan

Score: ++

The Review: An exhilarating rush!

If you haven't figured it out by now, many (perhaps most?) movies concerned with music -- creation (Music & Lyrics), performance (A Mighty Wind and Across the Universe), composers (Copying Beethoven), artists (Hilary and Jackie), instruments (The Red Violin), even academic study (Songcatcher) -- will rate high in my esteem. Music offers insight into the mind, a window on the ability to create -- and any film attempting to portray the creative spark will get my serious attention, even if the scaffold is as straightforward as an unwanted child trying to find his parents. Even better, music in performance usually gives that spinal chill and feeling of not-quite-contained exhilaration and rapture. And if it happens to be something novel (as the plot purports) or a rousing instrument (even a church organ will do, as here), then so much the better.

Problem is, this aspect of a film is likely to totally overpower my impression of the rest of the event: plot, character, suspension of disbelief, everything else takes second fiddle (sorry!). It's difficult for me to be objective and judgmental when my heart is soaring. And although I rate this movie highly, my impression is that I'm probably one of the few to do so. So be it.

As I mentioned, its plot is not complicated, although random circumstance makes it seem that way: boy meets girl, they fall in love, girl's father forbids match, they separate and are apparently lost to each other. The fact they are both musicians is curious. The nuance comes in when the child of this union, sloughed off to a high-end orphanage, decides to track down his parents. The gimmick comes in when it becomes clear he is a musical prodigy. The venue is Manhattan: Robin Williams channels a creepy Fagan, and Terence Howard is the child services agent on the prowl.

Not all feel-good movies are created equal -- this one appeals to both the romantic and the creative, and particularly if you are a musician.

(25-Nov-07)

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