August Rush
- 2007
- Tous publics
- 1h 54m
A musically gifted orphan, Evan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who li... Read allA musically gifted orphan, Evan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater.A musically gifted orphan, Evan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 11 nominations total
- Steve
- (as Jamie O'Keefe)
Featured reviews
My father was killed in a car accident three days before I would have celebrated my third birthday. My father was also Irish and looked a lot like August Rush's father. It was during the Great Depression and my mother gave me up to the county's foster care agency.
I am now seventy-nine years of age. How I yearned down through the years for my parents, especially my Irish father. My mother was French. I met her many years later in New York City when I was in my early twenties. She was cold and rejecting towards me. I could not understand why. I was abandoned a second time by one of my parents.
The movie "August Rush" was healing to my soul wounded since early childhood;and again, in my early twenties. I knew where he was coming from as he longed for his parents. Instead of music, I used my talent of writing to deal with the lost of my parents.
"August Rush" made me fantasize during the movie that my yearning and searching for my parents were like this remarkable child.
Personally, I loved the story. And the music was amazing. I had goosebumps throughout the entire movie. In fact, there was probably so much emphasis on the music that there was less character development than a lot of people would like. I liked this element of the movie, though, as it requires you to read between the lines. Not even the ending is handed to you nicely wrapped and on a platter. There's no wrap-up dialogue or epilogue sequence, just the audience's own inferences. Hence, if you don't have an imagination, you should stay home.
A trio of beautiful performances form the heart of this film, although the secondary characters are also crisply compelling. A day after seeing it, I find that specific shots of their faces still glow in mind like pieces of a mosaic. And the music is a genuine addition, as it should be in a film of this kind. I was genuinely moved.
The music is incredible, and mostly consists of original scores. It includes gospel, rock and classical, seamlessly integrated in a new way that works extremely well.
The plot is somewhat predictable and possibly a little "sappy", but those elements are easily overcome by the moment-to-moment execution of the story. Think of a modernized "Oliver" with Robin Williams as Fagin to a group of homeless, musically talented kids...plus extra elements of romance and intrigue, and you will have a bit of an idea about this movie.
The three main characters are all physically "beautiful" people who manage to convey the story with a minimum of dialog. Additional characters, including Terrence Howard as the social worker, Jamia Simone Nash as the young girl in the church choir, and Leon G. Thomas as the young boy who befriends the musical prodigy, contribute strong performances and pizazz.
Someone sitting near me stated it is impossible for even a prodigy to learn music so quickly and at such a young age... However, this is not true. Check out Jay Greenberg, a young music student currently studying at Julliard. In the end, this movie is at least an endorsement and celebration of the significance of music in our lives and at most a transcendent, fun experience to watch.
I rarely like to see any movie more than once, but definitely want to see this again. Take the family this is for children, teens and adults. Don't miss it is my recommendation!
This movie is a fairytale set in real life circumstances. I really like that the film was never advertised as an Oliver Twist take, but I loved all of the allusions to it. It was a very creative take on the classic story. The poor orphan boy who wants nothing more than to be loved.
My favorite aspect of the movie was how infused music actually was in the movie. I am a musician and I liked the touches that the filmmakers went into to make the film seem as credible as a fairytale can be. I also like how it brought together modern rock, classic symphonic music, and modern symphonic music. It didn't really glamorize the life's of everyday musicians. I like all of the extra little things that were thrown into the movie that only a musician would get. There were some errors but for the most part I applaud the film makers for the attention to the musical details.
Yes the movie was a bit bit corny, and a little over the top, but for the most part I loved it and suggested it to every one.
Did you know
- TriviaAugust's unique style of playing guitar, which includes banging on the strings, was innovated by the artist Michael Hedges. Other artists have continued to develop his style. In the movie, August's first improvisation session on guitar is actually Hedge's song "Ritual Dance", played by guitarist Kaki King.
- GoofsWhen August was playing the piano at the church for the first time, he played a note, then two more to the left, and got a higher tone when he should have gotten a lower one. He then plays two notes to the right of the original pitch, and gets lower tones. This is exactly reversed from what should have occurred.
- Quotes
August Rush: [opening voice-over] Listen. Can you hear it? The music. I can hear it everywhere. In the wind... in the air... in the light. It's all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do... is listen.
- SoundtracksPrelude from Partita No. 3
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestrated and Arranged by Dave Metzger
Performed by Steve Erdody
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El triunfo de un sueño
- Filming locations
- Muscoot Farm, Somers, New York, USA(orphanage)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $31,664,162
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $9,421,369
- Nov 25, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $66,122,026
- Runtime
- 1h 54m(114 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1