BalekFekete
Shared on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:31Every now and again, you need what I'll call a "feel good" movie. That type of movie that is over-the-top sappy, but when you're done watching it you have an extra half-beat to your pulse that you didn't have before you sat down to watch it. These movies aren't staples in our collections, but between aliens exploding in globs of goo, and armored robots trying to annihilate the human population, they have their place. One such movie I recently caught is August Rush, staring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, and Robin Williams.
The movie follows a trio of lives - mother, father, and son - as they twist and turn, crossing paths briefly from time to time after a night of magical love...oh, who am I kidding...lust yielded a son to a pair of polar opposite parents, one a classical musician and one a lead singer in a rock band. The son is forced into adoption by an overprotecting father, who in turns spends the next 11 years trying to find his parents. The son develops into a musical prodigy, "hearing" the music where others simply hear noise or nothing at all. Of course all ends well in the fairy tale of a movie, and a family reunion for the record books is delivered.
The movie succeeded in a few critical areas to fit into my classification of a "feel good" flick. First, it hit a heartstring for me - family and love for it. There seemed to be a genuine sense of affection and longing for the family unit, and I identify strongly with that. Nothing matches the importance of my family in my life, and anything that reminds me of that gets top billing in my book of life. 
Then, it delivered a sense of passion - passion for music by the son in the movie. He truly loved music, as he put it "more than food". I've always been looking for that level of passion in my life, and might be looking for it forever. Maybe some people are gifted with that one thing that truly makes their lives complete, something they simply could not live without. I don't count the family and children, because as they're a part of you, they automatically qualify. But rather something else...something that really makes you whole. Either way...I'll keep looking.
Finally, and I'll admit this without reservation, I gotta shed a tear during the movie. Whether it's because I just saw the mother, frozen in the northern Atlantic clutching her child in Titantic, or get the real feeling of pure connection to a soul mate in Shakespeare In Love, I gotta get to a point emotionally where I gasp for air. If a movie can solicit that type of a response, it ticks the final check box and gets the "feel good" stamp of approval. August Rush delivered on this at a few points, even on a second and third viewing. Now excuse me for a second...I think I dropped my Man Card for a second there. 
At the end of the day, if you're looking for a rather simple, but effective movie that will leave you a bit warmer than when you started for any of the above stated reasons, give August Rush a rent. You might actually enjoy it.
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Comments
Submitted by alabama_old_fart on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:46
Submitted by Devonsangel on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:53
Submitted by hilskie on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 10:14