Flora and Son (2023)

The hype swirling around this romantic/creative saga about how the power of love and art can solve virtually any problem has indeed been palpable, but the finished product unfortunately fails to live up to its ambitious billing. Writer-director John Carney’s latest feature tells the story of Flora (Eve Hewson), a Dublin working class single mom with questionable values who’s struggling to raise her (allegedly) rebellious teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan). But, in doing so, the picture tends to wander amidst an array of diverse story threads, all of which start out dubious but gradually mellow into a mass of schmaltzy harmony, a somewhat implausible scenario given the patently unlikable and irresponsible nature of its central characters. The means for accomplishing this transformation is Flora’s budding love of music, a newfound passion brought about in large part thanks to her online relationship with Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a deadpan, middle-aged Los Angeles-based guitar instructor, a relationship with obvious (but not especially credible) romantic underpinnings. However, in telling this tale, the film gets bogged down by elements like Max’s frequent but unconvincing rebelliousness, Flora’s turbulent relationship with her ex-husband, Ian (Jack Reynor), and a series of long-winded, tedious, supposedly sensitive conversations between Flora and Jeff. To its credit, the film has its share of biting one-liners and a breakout performance by Hewson, but much of this production never really seems to know where it’s going and ends up relying on trite, formulaic plot tropes to wind things up. Regrettably, “Flora and Son” represents yet another example of a film that seriously could have benefitted from further revision and development before being committed to a final cut, an all-too-familiar problem with many of this year’s cinematic releases.

There's not a great deal of plausibility with this story, but I still really quite enjoyed it. "Flora" (Eve Hewson) has a sort of hate/hate relationship with her pretty wayward fourteen year old lad "Max" (Orén Kinlan) as she struggles to make ends meet while his dad "Ian" (Jack Reynor) has shacked up with his new, pseudo-Spanish, girlfriend. "Max" is a typical unruly kid: into petty theft, a girl who isn't going to look at him twice and "Flora" is at her wits end. Returning from work one afternoon she espies a busted guitar in a skip. €18 after she has tied a ribbon to it and presented it to him as a belated birthday gift. He's not remotely interested so she decides to try her hand and eventually alights on the less geeky, dashing, "Jeff" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - an online guitar teacher from California. It's their relationship that gradually helps her to put her more immediate difficulties into better perspective and to begin to find more common ground with "Max" and with her ex (on whom she is still a bit sweet). I found there to be a great dynamic between Hewson and Kinlan - though I'm not sure I'd ever have spoken to my mother, nor she to me, in quite this lively vernacular! It's a story that's full of anger and resentment, but also of humour and, in a slightly unique sort of fashion, affection too. Reynor is little more than eye candy - no bad thing - but I could have been doing with a little more from him, and from an acoustically talented JG-L who wrote a few of the songs and performed them - as do the others - too. It's a character study, this film - rough round the edges and maybe just a bit far-fetched, but great use is made of what must have been a tiny production budget to focus the emphasis of the story on the really quite likeable characterisations. Maybe it didn't need a cinema outing, but it is well worth a watch.

Writer / director John Carney is the master of making crowd-pleasing films for music lovers, and his latest won’t disappoint. “Flora and Son” is a terrific addition to his filmography (“Once,” “Begin Again,” “Sing Street“) and it fits in quite nicely with a simple, tidy story that’s easily accessible to all audiences.

Flora (Eve Hewson) is a young, sassy divorced mom to delinquent teen Max (Orén Kinlan), a boy who has been in trouble most of his life. The two live in Dublin in a small flat, and Flora is doing her best to raise her son to have some sort of future success in life. When she finds a used guitar that’s been thrown away like garbage, Flora salvages it and gifts it to Max. At first it’s shunned, but then Flora begins taking online guitar lessons from a man halfway around the globe, which piques the curiosity of her son. She develops a lovely long-distance friendship with her instructor Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and eventually mother and son make beautiful music together.

It’s a charming film with an easygoing flair that’s cheery and sweet. Carney’s insightful writing keeps things grounded, so thankfully the movie doesn’t feel like cloying puffery. It’s definitely a film with a sunny disposition, but the characters are well-developed and have a surprising amount of depth, and the casting is terrific. Hewson and Kinlan have a great chemistry as mother and son, and her rapport with Gordon-Levitt feels just as natural. Jack Reynor adds a breeze of comic relief as Flora’s ex, and the offbeat romantic elements of the script express the type of romantic love (and sincere respect) where characters don’t necessarily end up together.

The original songs (also by Carney) are as catchy and bright as ever, and the final concert scene will have you walking on clouds. This is an easy movie to like, for so many reasons.

Carney has a style, and his latest project shares many similarities with his previous films yet manages to feel refreshing and different. It’s another story of people brought together through the shared love of making music, but “Flora and Son” also celebrates motherhood. It has a cloying, emotionally manipulative ending that will likely resonate with moms, but don’t let that turn you off from the movie because despite a couple of small missteps, there’s a whole lot to like here.