August Rush (2007)

This film is a bit melodramatic for what it is.  There's a great deal of gazing in to the middle distance, much dialogue delivered in an is-he-about-to-cry-oh-I-guess-not fashion, lots of longing.  That could be part of why I watch it with a degree of cynicism, because it takes itself a bit seriously.  It presents itself with the sort of gravity you'd see in a film about cancer.  The characters seem perpetually overwhelmed by something they're not quite explaining to us.

It's always frustrating for me watching a film where at least one protagonist is meant to be an accomplished musician, because the actors are rarely cast with that in mind.  I've already ranted about this in my post about The Artist, though in that case it was related to dancing.  But the same applies here.  Musicians can tell when a performer is faking it, and it's sometimes insulting that filmmakers don't think we'll notice.
For instance, in this film, there's a moment when August encounters a piano for the first time, and in his fascination he plays three notes.  The three notes we see him play ascend the scale.  The three notes we hear descend the scale.  
...Really??  Come on!
Prior to that moment, I was thinking that the actors did a decent job at playing their instruments.  Keri Russell has something of a cellist vibe about her, and I would hardly be surprised if Jonathan Rhys Meyers strummed out songs on guitar occasionally.  They seemed really mindful of trying to make it realistic, so I almost forgave whichever sound guy it was who on numerous occasions apparently thought it unimportant to sync up what we hear with what we see played*. 

Despite his being the title character, I think I would enjoy this film more if the focus was more on August's parents.  So why is it in my collection?  I got it out of curiosity, because I liked some of the actors, who coincidentally happen to be the ones playing August's parents.

Final thought:  Robin Williams' bitter Bono-inspired cowboy is not my favourite thing about this movie.

Up Next:  The Avengers (2012)

*Call me crazy, but I would have thought that if you're making a movie about people playing music, you'd make note of how it's meant to look when music is played.