Film Critique on the movie August Rush - Essay Example

Film Critique on the movie "August Rush" Cast They include Freddie Highmore - Evan Taylor or August Rush, Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Louis Connelly, Keri Russell - Lyla Novacek, Robin Williams - Wallace Maxwell “Wizard”, Terrence Howard - Counselor Richard Jeffries, William Sadler - Thomas Novacek, Mykelti Williamsons -Reverend James, Jamia Simone Nash – Hope, Leon G. Thomas III – Arthur, Alex OLoughlin – Marshall, Timothy Mitchum – Joey, Bonnie McKee – Lizzy, Becki Newton – Jennifer (Crowley, 2007). Plot Louis is a lead singer in a band called “Conelly Brothers”. Lyla is a cellist. She plays in an orchestra. Her father is a strict man. Each of them takes part performing in concerts. One day they meet in a party (Crowley, 2007). Soon after, they sleep together on a building rooftop. In the meantime, a man on the street below is playing a guitar. The following morning, Lyla returns to Chicago. Louis waits for her as they had agreed. However, she ignores him. Lyla later realizes that she is pregnant with Louis’ baby. She argues with her father upon giving him the news. They also argue about Lyla’s future career as a cellist. After the argument, she runs out onto the street and a car knocks her down. She prematurely gives birth due to trauma from the accident. Her conniving father secretly forges her signature on the documents and gives the baby up for adoption (Crowley, 2007). He then lies to her that she miscarried as a result of trauma effect from the accident. Her son, Evan Taylor, grow up and eleven years later, he is living in an orphanage for boys near New York City. Evan hears music everywhere he goes. He believes that the music will help him find his parents. He runs away to New York City where he meets Arthur. Louis gave up the band after Lyla’s accident. He now lives in San Fransisco. Lyla lives in Chicago and also quit performing. Just before dying, her father confesses that he gave up her baby for adoption. He tells her that the child is in New York City. Lyla rushes to New York to find her son (Crowley, 2007). Maxwell Wallace takes in Evan. His name is also “Wizard”. He teaches music to children who are homeless. Evan picks up Maxwell’s guitar, “Roxanne”, one day and begins to play. Even without having previously trained, Evan plays the guitar well. Wizard gives Evan the guitar and also a place at Washington Square Park. Both had initially belonged to Arthur. Wizard gives Evan the name “August Rush” and tries to get him to perform in clubs (Crowley, 2007). Louis tries to reconnect with Lyla. He flies to Chicago to go look for her. However, the neighbor unintentionally misleads him to think that Lyla got married. Before Evan ran away to New York, he had met Jeffries. One day, the police raid the theatre in which they were staying. Wizard found a way for Evan to escape (Crowley, 2007). Evan finds refuge in a small church. A young girl, called Hope, introduces Evan to the piano. Evan quickly becomes a talented pianist. This impresses the parish pastor. He enrolls August at a school called Juilliard. Lyla arrives in New York. She seeks information at Jeffries office. Jeffries identifies her son as Evan. She quickly decides to remain in New York so as to search for her son. She also resumes playing the cello. She agrees to play with Philharmonic during a series of a couple of concerts. Wizard is afraid of the revelation of August’s real name. He, therefore, takes August back to Washington square to play the Roxanne (William, 2010). Louis wanders through the park on the day of his first concert after having rejoined his former band. He meets August in the park. Louis carried his own guitar, so he plays together with August. The two are totally oblivious of their blood relationship between them. Arthur assists August to escape from Wizard, who had forbidden him from attending his own concert. While heading to the airport, Louis notices Lyla’s name written on a banner. He leaves his band mates behind in the van that they had been travelling with and runs to the park where the people are expecting Lyla to perform. Lyla finishes her performance, and she begins to leave the park (William, 2010). Arthur arrives at the park in the nick of time to perform his rhapsody. When Louis arrives at the park, he spots Lyla and reunites with her. August finishes his performance. He turns around and smiles at Louis and Lyla. At that moment, he realizes that Lyla and Louis are his parents. Critical Analysis The movie occasionally breaks off from the narrative storytelling in order to reveal the music that originates from August’s surreal world. The directors of the movie seem to focus more on the music rather than the narrative storytelling. However, the music is captivating. Those who appreciate music will undoubtedly enjoy the movie. The storyline is quite unbelievable. It is like a fairytale. August believes that music can connect people and even reunite them. He believes that music will help him find his estranged family. This is quite unrealistic. It is as if music has exceeded all forms of communication. The plot of the movie is also derivative. The sequence of events is nothing majorly new that we have not seen before in stories that are almost identical. The movie is cliché. It lacks originality. A young boy was separated from his parents by Lyla’s father during birth. He is, however, optimistic that the world will reunite him with his parents. At the end, the world reunites the family, and they live happily ever after. Love at first sight is also a cliché in movies (Rush, 2008). The storyline has a significant amount of fairytale magic. The story line is overzealous in its sense of wonder. The story indicates that Evan went to stay in a group home for boys in New York at age eleven. This is unrealistic because group home for boys does not exist anymore (Rush, 2008). There is also a lot of coincidence in the storyline. First of all, Louis and Lyla met at a rooftop coincidentally. They sleep together while a man in the street below plays the guitar. Louis and Lyla believe in love at first sight. They both get attracted to each other and even end up sleeping with each other on the day that they meet (Rush, 2008). Another form of coincidence as portrayed in the movie is that both the boy and the parents love music. This is almost unrealistic since we know it is difficult for all family members to have the same interest and talents. It is also a coincidence the way that Evan and his parents look for each other at the same time. In the story, they all end up in New York at a concert in the park (Rush, 2008). There have also been many close calls for meeting between the parents and Evan For instance, in the story of August Rush, August and his father meet in a park. They are both oblivious of their relation by blood. Louis had carried his guitar, and similarly August had his guitar. They play together at the park. Louis encourages August to go conduct the orchestra. It is during the time that he is conducting the orchestra that he spots his family in the crowd (Rush, 2008). It is fate that reunites the family. It is quite unrealistic that parents and August end up meeting particularly at that concert in New York. It is also fate that August loves music so much. He attributes his love for music to several of the gods. The movie is also unrealistic because a mother meets and recognizes her son at the concert in a park, in New York. Normally, we would expect that the mother would not recognize the son. This is because they have never met (Rush, 2008). It is quite unbelievable how music can overtake all forms of communication. August believes that the music will help him find his parents. August uses the music as a communication device that will link him and his parents in the near future. The movie is slow and is prone to long periods of nothing but lights bouncing off shiny objects. Consumerism is also applicable in this movie (William, 2010). The concert venue in the movie is Irving plaza which is in New York City. Also, there is the mention of New York Symphany Orchestra. How does the boy learn to play the guitar and piano so quick? In one of the scenes, we see Evan picking up the guitar and playing it well. Evan has had no previous training with the guitar. Wizard was so impressed with Evan’s skill that he named him August Rush (Rush, 2008). There is also another scene in the movie where at the church, August picks up the piano and begins playing it. He becomes a natural, and the parish pastor gives him a rhapsody to conduct himself. August is a child genius. The parish pastor gives him the right to conduct a rhapsody at a concert, Central Park. Acting Some of the cast have talent. The acting is superb. Each actor plays out his or her role well. Freddy Highmore plays the role of the orphaned boy. The orphaned boy is poverty stricken, wounded and scared (Rush, 2008). However, some of the actors do not quite fulfill their roles. The film directors underuse Terrence Howard. He has got a lot of talent but the film directors give him a small role in the movie. For a wizard, Robin Williams does not get all the notes right (Rush, 2008). Cinematography and sound The cinematography and the sound of August Rush are excellent. There is an excellent choice of soundtracks of the movie. Some of the soundtracks include: ‘moondance’, ‘break’ and ‘this time’. According to Anne Gilbert, Sheridan makes use of a lot of camera shots that are close-up. She also uses long, silent takes that enable her to film a movie that moves at an extremely rapid clip. The actual music is fantastic, but not exceptional. A fairytale should feature people who inexplicably connect to one another (Rush, 2008). However, the movie relies on a device which stands in for actual development of characters. Directing Kirsten Stewert is the director of August Rush. This is her first film to direct. She over-uses orchestration. She also over-directs. She directs a story of an orphaned boy, who had been adopted by a boys’ orphanage home in New York. The orphaned boy relies on the power of music. The power of music helps him reunite with his family. This makes the storyline surreal and the film unsentimental (William, 2010). Impact of society on the film and vice versa The society has been quite critical of the August Rush film. This is because the film is unsentimental. It involves the use of fairytale magic, fate and mere coincidences that sound unrealistic (Rush, 2009). However, there are those few individuals in the society who enjoyed the music and the orchestration of the film. There are some aspects of violence in the movie. At the group home for boys, a man threatens the boys using a knife. The boys were misbehaving. The man flashes the knife so as to order the boys to keep on working. There is also some social drinking at bars. This is not acceptable influence for the children. Some curse words have also been used to in the movie. Some of these curse words include damn, pissed and screw you (Rush, 2009). Again, this is not appropriate for children. The children can easily be influenced into using those curse words. As far as positive message goes, there are decent people in the movie. However, Lyla’s father is conniving and cold-hearted. Genre August Rush is a drama that has fairytale elements. Kristen presents it in the way fate enables Louis and Lyla to meet and conceive a child together. Fate also reunites the child with his parents at the end of the film (Rush, 2009). Themes The main theme in August Rush is surreality. The film revolves around fate and fairytale magic. Evan grows up knowing that he is an orphan. However, he believes that the power of music will enable him to find his parents. In the end, music reunites him with his family. Fate enables him to isolate his parents from a crowd having never met them before (Rush, 2009). Louis and Lyla parted ways after their night at the rooftop. Fate brings them back together. They both play musical instruments, and this goes ahead to support the fate that reunites them. References Crowley, A. (2007, November 3). August Rush. Nielsen Business Media, pp. 56-59. Rush, A. (2009). Frederic P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, John McBrewster. New York: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K. Rush, D. (2008). A student guide to movie analysis. New York: SIU Press. William Benedict Russell, I. S. (2010). Reel Character Education: A Cinematic Approach to Character Development. New York: Information Age Publishing. Read More