August Rush

This film involved something of a struggle to determine whether I'd see it or not. On the plus side, it stars Keri Russell, who is not only a good actress but also happens to be my number one crush. On the negative, it also stars Robin Williams. Now I've admired Williams in many pictures, especially for his dramatic work, such as Awakenings, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia and One Hour Photo. But anyone movie that requires him to twinkle is usually poisonous, and the trailer suggests that this is that type of role.

Then the film received an Oscar nomination. Granted, it was for song, but a mild case of OCD compels me to see all nominated films (though I draw the line at Norbit). So I Netflixed it, and it surprised me in some ways.

For one, Williams plays a villain. He's a kind of Fagin and Bill Sykes all in one, a Pied Piper who collects children who are musically talented and gives them a home in an abandoned theater in exchange for taking half of their busker earnings. He enters the story about a third of the way through, when the main character, played by Freddie Highmore, runs away from an orphanage and makes it to New York City. Along the way we have learned the story behind his parentage--his mother, who is played by Russell, is a cellist who has an impetuous one-night fling with a soulful Irish musician, played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. In true cinemagic, a pregnancy results. Russell's father, who is determined to have her daughter reach musical greatness, tells her after an accident that she lost the baby.

It turns out that Highmore is a musical prodigy. Williams spots it and attempts to cash in, but Highmore ends up at Julliard and this all leads to a conclusion in which we wonder whether parents and child will be reunited. Of course this isn't really in doubt, and some of the coincidences are so over-the-top as to invite snickers of disbelief. What I did like about this film, though, is that I think it gives an insightful look at what goes through the mind of a musical prodigy, how they hear things differently. I don't know if someone could actually be shown a piano and instantly be able to play and compose on it, but this film isn't really concerned with pesky details like realism.

The director is Kristen Sheridan, the daughter of Jim, and this is her first feature. She directs it as if were a fairy-tale of sorts, and in that perspective she succeeds, but the script is just too overloaded with coincidences to be taken seriously.