August Rush

Once again, another recommended movie to watch. Be sure to watch this from the start to the end.

August Rush received the Heartland Truely Picture Award, denoting it as a film that "can move you to laughter, to tears, to make a difference and offers heartfelt visions of life that are as hopeful as they are entertaining.

August Rush is a 2007 movie directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Nick Castle, James V.Hart, Kirsten Sheridan and Paul Castro, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis.

Evan Taylor, a 12 years old boy, who can hear music everywhere around him. He was brought up in an orphanage with no contact with his parents but he could "hear" them. A child prodigy in music. His parents were separated but they yearned to be together. Evan's mother, Lyla Novacek, is a famous concert cellist, and Louis Connelly, Evan's father, is an Irish guitarist and lead singer from a rock band.

Evan's mother thought that she had lost her child during a car accident but was covered up by her father. Lyla was told about the truth when her father revealed it to her on his deathbed. She searched everywhere hopefully that she could find her son. And at the same time, Louis was looking for Lyla.

During the period when Lyla and Louis were separated, Evan was at the orphanage, Evan meets a counselor, who gives a name card to him, introducing himself as a New York child service department member. However, Evan lost the card and wandered around until he met a guitarist, Authur. Evan followed Arthur and falls in with a group of street kids, all musicians of some kind, who are being cared for by "Wizard".

Wizard is a busker who sees the children as "investments". Evan gets access to a guitar and begins to play music for the first time. He turns out to be a child prodigy, and while in search of a better name, Wizard gives him the name August Rush, both as an alias and a stage name after seeing a commercial on a random truck driving by.

Meanwhile, Evan's friend in the social services is seeking him. He becomes suspicious of Wizard and has the police follow him. They raid the condemned theater in which Wizard and the kids live. Having run away, Evan hears a choir singing in a church and meets a little girl who sings in the choir. She teaches him how to read and write music, and he begins to play the pipe organ with consummate skill. The pastor of the church has Evan enrolled in Juilliard, where he does brilliantly, eventually writing a magnificent piece called "August's Rhapsody".

A concert was held in New York City's Central Park with the New York Philharmonic. By coincidence, Lyla Novacek was there to perform too! The melodic tunes sounded across the whole crowd when Evan's composition,"August's Rhapsody", was played. The music captured the hearts of everyone. Louis and Lyla followed the music and coincidentally stood beside each other before the stage. Lyla was held by the hand of Louis in surprise. And as the piece ends, Evan turned around to the crowd and recognises the two of them.

The movie ends as it fades out of the concert at Central Park, with Evan saying in the background, "The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen."