Picture this. It's late night in the Village, sometime in the '90s. Whilst the masses consume their poisons, two highly attuned, contrarily wired musicians — Julliard cellist Lyla (Keri Russell) and Irish rock star Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) — find one another on a rooftop, and, with a little help from a lone harmonica playing Van Morrison's "Moondance," fall hopelessly in love. Then the sun comes up and ruins everything. Lyla's controlling father forbids her to see Louis. Even viler, when Lyla and Louis's love child comes to term, her father tells her that she's had a miscarriage, when in fact he's forged adoption papers and given up her son. August Rush is the story of said child, eleven-year-old Evan Thompson (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Freddie Highmore), a.k.a. "August Rush," who inherits the prodigious gift of music, along with an unerring faith that it will lead him to his family. Using his ears as his guide, August breaks out of his boys' home and embarks on a pilgrimage through the grit-and-lace of New York City sound, from street performances, to gospel, to the gates of Julliard. Discovering his genius along the way, he composes an original score to bring back his parents.
Fanciful storylines like this have Broadway written all over them. And, in that tradition, August Rush's success relies heavily on evoking emotion through song. Thankfully, the musical talent meets the challenge, bringing each corner of the music world to life. Even if you're not the musical type, you might suspend your disbelief long enough to be stirred. After all, with performers like nine-year-old Apollo Kids Talent Search winner Jamia Simone Nash (Hope), whose pipes make their big-screen debut here, it's hard not to remember how amazing music can be. Robin Williams, playing Wizard, the wayward guardian of the street kids, sums it up best. "You know what music is?" he tells August, "Harmonic connection between all living beings." Whimsical? Sure, but it's holiday time, so you're totally allowed to indulge. — Lauren Belski