August Rush

Buskers 3:

First, the Irish Once, then the French Edith Piaf, now the American August Rush. Busking for dollars must be one of the loneliest ways to try to find yourself. But, of course, 20 years ago few people even knew what the word meant although most of us have contributed to it or probably would have if we had the time and hadn’t just threw all our spare change in the Salvation Army bucket six months earlier.

Bart, I thought you spend all your spare change on new age spas.

Right, that’s why buskers in my neighborhood die cold and stressed. But back to August Rush.

What’s the verdict?

We loved it. After we made jokes about it for being so predictable and derivative. What fun! I had brought the DVD along to a family gathering (Linda’s family) in case the conversation got too predictable and derivative. The teenagers tried to ignore it but eventually we all got caught up in what is essentially a gorgeous fairy tale that becomes deeply meaningful and is a powerful journey into exploring our own loneliness. That’s after ignoring the predictable and derivative stuff. Fagin as Robin Williams made up to look like Sting was almost harder to take in than the formulaic racial casting, but even that eventually worked. The director is of the female formula which may explain how this was able to really turn out well.

If anyone actually reads this drivel and knows Manhattan, then the mis-placed subway geography will be confusing but the Washington Square Park scenes will be oddly familiar to those who actually write this drivel. If you look carefully you can almost see the apartment on Sullivan.