| Director | Kirsten Sheridan |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, musical film, romance film |
| Runtime | 115 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $65.3 million |
In 1995, Lyla Novacek is a cellist studying at the Juilliard School. Louis Connelly is the lead singer of an Irish rock band. They meet and have a one-night stand but are unable to maintain contact. Lyla discovers that she is pregnant. Following an argument with her overbearing father, she is struck by a car, forcing her to prematurely give birth. While Lyla is unconscious, her father secretly puts the baby up for adoption, telling Lyla that her son died.
Eleven years later, the baby, named Evan Taylor, is living in a boys' orphanage where he is assigned to a social worker named Richard Jeffries. Evan is a musical genius and displays savant-like abilities and perfect pitch. 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. When he sees the posters that Jeffries has placed for the runaway Evan, Wizard destroys them, hoping to keep Evan for his own gain.
Louis now lives in San Francisco as a talent agent, while Lyla is a music teacher in Chicago. Louis reconnects with his brothers and decides to try to find Lyla. Lyla is called to her father's deathbed, where he confesses that her son is alive. She then abandons her father to his fate and immediately begins to hunt for her son.
Arriving at Lyla's apartment in Chicago, Louis talks to one of her neighbors, who erroneously says that she is on her honeymoon. Despairing, he ends up in New York, where he regroups his band. After Jeffries meets Wizard and Arthur on the street and becomes suspicious, the police raid the derelict theater in which Wizard and his children are living. 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. Hope brings August and his abilities to the attention of the parish pastor, who takes August to the Juilliard school, where he impresses the faculty. A rhapsody takes shape from August's notes and homework.
In New York, Lyla goes to Jeffries's office, and Jeffries identifies August as her son. 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. August is selected to perform at the same concert. However, Wizard interrupts the rehearsal and, claiming to be his father, pulls August out of the school.
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. August meets Louis and, unaware of their blood relationship, they have an impromptu guitar duet. That evening, with help from Arthur, August escapes from Wizard through the subway and heads for his concert. Louis, after his own performance with his reunited band, sees Lyla's name on a banner and also heads for the park. Jeffries finds a flyer for "August Rush" with a picture and goes to the concert.
August arrives in time to conduct his rhapsody, which attracts Lyla and Louis to the audience, where they reunite. August finishes his rhapsody and, as he turns to discover his parents, smiles, knowing that he has been right all along.