August Rush is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis.
The many sounds and rhythms he hears throughout his journey culminate in a major instrumental composition that concludes with his score, "August's Rhapsody".
Convinced that his parents will find him, he runs away to New York City, "following the music" with the hope that it will lead him to his family.
He finds a boy named Arthur busking in Washington Square Park and follows him to his home in a condemned theater, where Evan is introduced to "Wizard" Wallace, a vagrant musician who teaches homeless, orphaned, and runaway children to be street performers.
Wizard gives Evan a spot in Washington Square Park, assigns him the stage name "August Rush" and tries to market him to clubs.
Evan (now "August") takes refuge in a church, where he befriends a little girl named Hope, who introduces him to the piano and written music.
While looking for him, she starts playing the cello again and accepts an offer to perform with the New York Philharmonic at a series of concerts in Central Park.
On the day of the concert, August returns to his spot in Washington Square, while Wizard makes plans to smuggle him around the country to perform.
The site's consensus reads: "Though featuring a talented cast, August Rush cannot overcome the flimsy direction and schmaltzy plot.
[12] In a review by USA Today, Claudia Puig commented, "August Rush will not be for everyone, but it works if you surrender to its lilting and unabashedly sentimental tale of evocative music and visual poetry.
"[13] The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film positively, writing, "The story is about musicians and how music connects people, so the movie's score and songs, created by composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer, give poetic whimsy to an implausible tale.
"[14] Pam Grady of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "an inane musical melodrama".
Grady said that "the entire story is ridiculous" and that the coincidences pile on, behavior and motivations defy logic, and the characters are so thinly drawn that most of the cast is at a loss"[15] Edward Douglas of comingsoon.net said that it "does not take long for the movie to reveal itself as an extremely contrived and predictable movie that tries too hard to tug on the heartstrings".