"You mean only some of us can hear it?"
"Only some of us are listening."
What makes a story more than just a story?
In many ways a lot of modern media, such as movies or TV shows, try to be more than "just" a show. A lot of different examples are out and about, such as this website itself, for example. We like Chrono Trigger, or we wouldn't be here, right? To us, the ones that stay and continue to love the Chrono games, there is something deeper there. Perhaps we think of it as a modern fairy tale. Perhaps we just think it's cool. Maybe we liked Zeal, or Crono, or any number of things from the game.
I worked in the movie business for eight years, five of which I spent working at a movie theater. In the earlier days I had to personally watch and inspect every movie and every preview. God, was that not fun. If you put all workplace drama aside and focused on that alone, that made the job a royal pain. Why? Because most movies suck. They are hastily cobbled together or they're all carbon copies with new names and new actors. "Oh, it's another chick flick. Oh look, it's another fantasy movie. Oh look, another scary movie." When you have to watch countless new movies each week just to make sure the reels are free of defects and that all the previews have been spliced together with the main film correctly, it becomes a chore. You begin to see how repetitive and boring Hollywood really is.
There are a few exceptions. Some studios, like Pixar, are known for their tendency to work on story first and pretty graphics later. Their movies are labors of love four years or more in the making, and with that kind of time, it shows in the final product. For the most part, though, it seems a lot of movies (even some of Pixar's) try to establish themselves as modern fairy tales and fall flat.
Two days ago, a friend asked me which movies of all the ones I'd seen through the years at the theater stood out in my memory. It was an interesting exercise in thought, and in the end, I could give her only three answers: District 9, because it is the exemplification of everything Sci-Fi is supposed to do (and really, it's probably the single most disturbing movie I've ever seen, not because of content, but because of its message). Sunshine, for exploring the bizarre connection humans have with their settings. And finally, August Rush, for accomplishing what a lot of other movies have tried to do--become a modern fairy tale.
From beginning to the end, August Rush defies explanation. There's not an easy way to even give a synopsis of it. "Well, there's this boy who's looking for his parents, and... he's really good with music, but uh... There's so much else going on, but it's really actually very simple." The best way I can describe it is this: It is the story of humanity, told through music.
It opens on a young boy in an orphanage, a boy who just happens to be a musical prodigy. (Seriously, the movie depicts this kid as possibly being even more gifted than Mozart.) He hears music everywhere he looks, from the wind to the sounds of cars. And he's convinced the music he hears is the music his parents heard on the night they met... And if he could just find a way to play the music, his parents would find him. And thus begins the most unbelievable story of incredible talent and sheer determination I have ever witnessed on a movie screen. This boy, August, becomes a superhero wielding music and ingenuity as his tools.
August Rush only feigns at being serious, which is where it goes wrong with most of the critics. It's painted like a story that could actually happen, except,
obviously, it never would. August Rush makes no apologies for being unbelievable. But the magic of the story is the value of pausing, and wondering... Is this possible? Would you wait eleven years for your true love? Could you really hear the music, if only you were listening? Truth is stranger than fiction, right? And the most interesting part of all: there's no divinity, no supernatural force guiding the events. There is only the power of sheer determination, of devotion, and the value of never losing hope.
The movie is a perceptual masterpiece. For anyone who loves music, and may have wondered, "Hmm, what might it have been like in Mozart's head?", August Rush gives you a possible answer. It very keenly shows what the world looks like to someone who is a musical genius. If you've ever heard music in the wind or set the twinkling of distant stars to musical notes, you would like the world you see in August Rush. If you have ever listened to a beautiful song, and thought the world would be a poorer place without it, you should watch this movie.
It's also a musical masterpiece. The entire score consists of bits and pieces of surreal tones, arpeggios, and three small themes. Though the movie, the chaos and dreamlike nature of the notes mature, until August finally brings them together in the breathtaking "August's Rhapsody" (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDZ5_pTcHA). The composer is said to have spent five years creating this one song. It shows. But even listening to the song isn't enough to appreciate how well-crafted this story is. When you listen to this seven-minute song and realize that each and every second of it has shown up somewhere else in the movie, that each musical thread is telling the entire story all over again... That is more than just a musical masterpiece. I don't think we even have a word to represent that.
August Rush has all the features of the traditional fairy tale. The good guys, bad guys, tragedy, heartbreak, the magical feeling, justice, and of course, true love. But it isn't telling the story of gods and goddesses, or extolling virtues of religion or culture. Instead, it is a fairy tale about humanity told through music, and the great things we're capable of.
The preview doesn't do this movie justice, because there's no way to explain what it's about in a three minute ad. But I remember watching that preview long before it came out, and it caught my interest. Maybe it's because I'm such a music person (If I had to chose, I'd rather be blind than deaf, because I don't know how I would live my life without music). I'm certainly not a movie person. The first ten minutes of the movie used to be on Youtube, and may still be. My biggest gripe about the preview is it makes it look like the lovers, August's parents, just went their separate ways willy nilly, when in fact, they were forcefully separated and simply could not find each other, no matter how hard they looked. (But really, if your biggest complaint about a movie is it's preview, then that movie's doing pretty good.)
Here's the preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUQ0qxmr2GcTalking with my friend about the movie really made me remember how much I loved this story all over again. Did anyone else see it? Has anyone else seen any other surreal movies that seemed like modern fairy tales?
