"August Rush" Is A True Fairytale Set In Our Days. The Movie Was To Be Nominated For An Oscar For The Song "Raise It Up".

Those who ever pick a guitar, those who ever sit in front of a piano or behind a drum kit, those who stand up mike in hand are doing it not because of fame, becoming immortal or hitting the cover of magazines. Any musician truly worth its salt steps on a stage because there is something he just can not communicate otherwise, in the same way that a writer or a painter expresses a part of him through his art – a part that he could not convey by other means.

Nowhere is this reminded with so much grace and virtuosity than in “August Rush” (2007). In the movie, music creates life. A boy is born to classic performer Lyla (Keri Russel) and rock musician Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in a night of passion. Fate then separates the two of them. Lyla still decides to have the baby, but her father is against it because it would hinder her career as a cellist. When she has an accident, he gives her newborn away for adoption, naming him Evan and telling Lyla her child has died. The boy (played by Freddie Highmore) is to eventually embark on a journey to find his parents. He is going to make them listen to him, turn his life into a melody they could never pass by.

That is the basic premise of “August Rush”, the closest to a fairytale set in the modern world I have ever seen. Don’t approach it looking for a rationale or feasible plot because you will be cringing within half an hour. However, if you believe that music is more than something to be played at the background during parties or casual events, “August Rush” will be in your wavelength. And if you are a MusicKO regular, I think I know where you stand.

Sounds delineate everything, and create the film’s most memorable scenes. Lyla is seen playing her cello when Louis is playing with his rock & roll band, and the sounds coalesce until different compositions become a single song, in the same way that the whole family will be reunited in due time by the piece August Rush will compose. “August Rush”, incidentally, is the name that Wizard (Robin Williams) bestows upon Evan when he picks him from the streets and makes him join his ensemble of buskers.

Wizard is the closer we have to an antagonist, but as the movie ends we get to see him in a different light. The turning point is the scene where he confronts the music teacher at Juilliard’s School, the institution where August is studying. “Music is not something you can learn from a book”, he argues ferociously. “You want to teach him?” he adds. “He is the one who will teach you”.

That contrast between music that is studied and music that comes naturally lies at the heart of the movie, and August goes from conducting nature in the first scene to conducting an orchestra at the end. He wants the world to listen. Because his parents are out there. If the world listens, they will as well.

Spanish Titles For The Movie Included "El Triunfo De Un Sueño" And "Mi Nombre Es August Rush" ("The Triumph Of A Dream" And "Mi Name Is August Rush"). The Latter Was The Title Used In My Country, Uruguay.

If I had to pick a favorite scene, I would go for the one in which August arrives at the big city, and the bustling sounds of New York end up creating a melody. Horns, sirens, barking dogs, footsteps… it is probably the movie’s truest magical moment, leaving aside the grandiose finale. The scene in which father and son meet is also a standout. In our hearts we know that music is the one and only thing that could unite them, and it works out like that on the screen.

The cast is unanimously likeable, with Freddie Highmore eventually going to star in “Charlie And The Factory Chocolate” as the nominal character, and with Robin Williams getting in the shoes of a former believer who still believes more than he cares to admit excellently. I was also thrilled to see Keri Russell again – the last time I had caught up with her was in “Felicity”, a show that truly had me captivated for the first season out of four that were to be mostly uneven.

It is far too clear that “August Rush” is not for everybody. Nothing sums that up best than the scene in which August questions Wizard about how far music can go. “Will the people hear?”, he asks the older musician. Wizard responds, ”the ones who are listening will”.

Will you like this movie? That depends on how much you will allow yourself to feel.

The music is there. The music is all around. All you have to do is listen.

"The Kids Are Alright" Was Directed By Super-fan Jeff Stein. Its Theatrical Release Was In 1979.

The music of The Who came from them being one of the truly unique ensembles in the history of music. If there was ever a band with a million tales to tell, it was them. The way those guys were together and constantly at odds was something that their music did not necessarily convey, until one (correctly) interpreted the outrageous volume as a telltale of bottled emotions and anger. But there was also enormous love and belief lying at the heart of it all. And that was something which just had to be told.

“The Kids Are Alright” (1979) was assembled with that objective in mind. The idea was to show what made the band so distinctive, and why it was that their fans were so loyal. The movie itself (directed by a then-young Jeff Stein, and released shortly after Keith Moon died) achieved that aim, but only in a certain sense: it captured their offstage irreverence in full flight by the inclusion of interviews and specials that were shot through the years.

However, it did fail to fully deliver in terms of performances. Of course, nobody said as much back then – when the movie was released, it featured clips such as the infamous “exploding drums” performance at the Smother Brothers’s Comedy Hour (1967), “A Quick One” at the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus (a never-before seen performance back then), and clips from the Monterey Pop Festival. Likewise, it included four “Tommy” selections from Woodstock.

But when the “30 Years Of Maximum R & B Live” VHS was released in 1994, fans were frankly amazed at the clips that had been previously neglected – why wasn’t footage from Charlton used? Why weren’t clips from the Isle Of Wight performance included?

Such omissions are a bit hard to stomach, frankly. But as far as capturing the sass of the band and the lunacy/greatness of Keith Moon outside the recording studio went, the movie received an A+ from everybody. Leaving aside a quite pathetic pre-staged hotel demolition during his decadent years in LA, you get to see clips of him such as an interview by Ringo Starr in which the ex-Beatle asks Keith how he joined the band. They both are completely past it, and Keith’s response is witty yet heartbreaking. There are also “true” clips of debauchery recorded through the years, the “Rolls Royce In The Pond” picture is shown briefly, and near the end Keith has the chance to dress as his childhood hero Long John Silver once and for all.

It would be unthinkable not to recommend this movie to newcomers and true fans of the band. The one thing to bear in mind is that there is another video that documents their live shows better. But if you want to see where all that musical edge did come from, this is certainly the most revealing piece you can get your hands on. A classic is a classic, even if later releases highlight some deficiencies.

The "Tommy" Movie Saw Release In 1975. Ken Russell Directed It, And He Modified Several Key Aspects Of The Plot.

An absolute abomination of a movie, “Tommy” (1975) was directed by the ever-controversial Ken Russell. That was the director Pete Townshend actually wanted owing to his artistic background. Pete also thought having Ken along for the ride would free him for having to explain the story ever and ever again, but he was wrong – Russell needed him no less than any other director that the band and (specially) their managers had approached for years on end to get this thing together.

In any case, Ken was to rewrite the whole story, and a major shift took place, as Tommy’s drama was situated outside his family (the lover kills the father here, rather than the other way around) and the film mainly revolves around the attempt to market and sell the deaf, dumb and blind boy’s vision to the world. In other words: Ken Russell’s Tommy is the original work without any innocence or magic. I could barely enjoy the original album, and the little appreciation I had for it stemmed from those two attributes. I don’t need to tell you how much I suffered through the entire running time of this travesty of a movie.

In case you don’t know, this is a musical – there is not an actual line of dialogue spoken. And Daltrey’s best lines are sung by film stars Oliver Reed and Ann Margret. Cameos come from a zillion musicians (Eric Clapton as the Preacher, Tina Turner as the Acid Queen, Elton John as the Champ) and actors like Jack Nicholson (he plays the Doctor).

Another Poster For The "Tommy" Movie.

The worst thing about the movie is that it fragmented the band further on after the unsuccessful Quadrophenia tours. If you want to pinpoint the moment Tommy became an albatross around their necks, look no further than this train wreck assembled by Ken Russell. Another sad fact is that since the Who were involved, they were dragged down into the mire as far this pompous movie went.

Highlights? Keith Moon playing the unsettling Uncle Ernie. Elton John playing “Pinball Wizard” (he appears backed by The Who, but the track actually featured his stage band). Elton’s version of the bally table hymn was to be a hit, in fact. You can watch these clips on YouTube. There is no need to go hunting for the whole movie at all. If you loved the original album, it is going to mar your perception of it. And if you couldn’t ever really listen to it to begin with… enough said.

"Once" Stars Glen Hansard And Marketa Irglova. The Movie Was Released In 2007, And It Was Written And Directed By John Carney.

Talk about dark horses to the ones who produced “Enchanted”. The same year that Disney’s musical was competing for three Oscars for best original song at the 80th Academy Awards, a down-to-earth number from a low-budget release named “Once” stole the prize in their noses. The song was named “Falling Slowly”, and it was performed by the film’s protagonists, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

I am uncertain if I would have learned about the movie were it not for Glen and Marketa’s performance that night. And I can tell you for sure that missing this title (written and directed by John Carney) would have been a great, great loss.

The story revolves around two characters that we know simply as “The Guy” and “The Girl”, their respective dreams, and their determination to make them come true. The title refers to the common attitude among musicians to go for it once they have settled this and that, and they are fully ready to take the dive. In the story, the Guy is a busker who dreams of pursuing a music career in London. The Girl is an accomplished piano player that earns a living as best as she can in the street of Dublin – selling roses, doing menial jobs… The way their story evolves and the naturalness of the events that unfold is the movie’s pivotal achievement.

The Guy And The Girl Meet In The Streets Of Dublin

There are scenes that you will remember long after the movie is over. Personally, I will never forget the first time the Guy and the Girl play together (they do “Falling Slowly” at a store in which they let the Girl play the piano for one hour each day), and the scene in which the Girl writes the words to a melody the Guy has handled her earlier that day. It is a charming scene, and one that reflects how music can transport people to other place where the daily grind just vanishes in thin air.

I also really like the scene in which the Guy and his newly-recruited band (along with the Girl) win over the jaded sound engineer they have been assigned for the recording of a couple of demos. It is also the first time we get to see the full band perform, and as we watch the engineer’s expression change (he had remarked to someone over the phone that he will be stuck on the studio for the weekend with a couple of freaks as they were setting their gear on the other side of the booth) we do realize something. How many times do we judge a person’s ability based on his or her looks? Admit it, didn’t you laugh when Suzan Boyle came onstage for the first time along with anybody else? And didn’t her actual performance do more than entertain you? Didn’t it make you realize that in life things can come in different envelopes, and that these envelopes are mostly damaging to your perception?

“Once” does that as well. It shows how succeeding cinematographically has nothing to do with having a big budget or a grandiose marketing campaign. All you need is a great story. There will be a way of narrating it, and reaching out to people. In the case of “Once”, the crew took advantage of natural lighting and they shot at their friends’ and relatives’ in order to minimize costs.

The leads are not really actors, and neither are the many bit-parts. Although the movie was scripted, many of the lines were improvised such as the words in Czech that Marketa speaks to Glen when asked a pivotal question. Glen’s character does not understand what she tells him, nor does him in real life.

And that is where is at. Notwithstanding how good or not they are, most movies I know are mere imitations of life. They are pieces of fiction, and they might move you but you know the story starts and ends in the screen. Ultimately, “Once” succeeds for being a true slice of life. You know that there are guys and girls out there looking for the chance to strike out once and for all. Maybe, just maybe a movie like this will give them the courage and resolution to do it. Once and for all.

When The Movie Was Completed, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Began Dating In Real Life.

UPDATE: Read the review of the soundtrack album here.