FLORA AND SON (APPLE TV+) (2023)

SYNOPSIS: Single mom Flora (Eve Hewson) is at a loss about what to do with her rebellious teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan). Encouraged by the police to find Max a hobby, Flora tries to occupy him with a beat-up acoustic guitar. With the help of a washed-up LA musician (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Flora and Max discover the transformative power of music. From the musical mind of John Carney, "Flora and Son" explores the bond between a mother and son on a journey toward a new harmony.

MOVIE REVIEW:

If you are a fan of Irish filmmaker John Carney, you know he uses music efficiently and effectively in his movies to tell his stories. Do check out his past works liked Once, Begin Again and Sing Street.

In his latest self-written and directorial effort, Carney tells his affecting story through the eyes of foul-mouthed, single mother Flora (Eve Hewson). She yearns to get back to the father of his son, Ian (Jack Reynor) but most of the time, she is stuck with his troublemaking, perpetually sulking teenager son Max (Oren Kinlan). One day, she finds a discarded guitar and gifts it to Max as his birthday present but Max rejects it outright and Flora subsequently finds solace in her online guitar lessons with an American, Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

For those who are sick of Hollywood’s typical diabetic rom-coms, fret not. This is not your all too familiar, predictable romance story although there’s some amusing flirting on Flora’s part. There’s this magical connection between the aspiring music student and her teacher that adds to the narrative. Flora is at a crossroads in her life. Jeff on the other hand seems to have a chequered past as well. Two lost souls being moved, motivated and touched by each other 6000 miles away that’s the gist of Flora and Son.

There’s a quiet, moving scene involving a Joni Mitchell performance that speaks a lot about the gradual change in Flora when you realised her former self is more into James Blunt’s "You Are Beautiful" and loud dance club music. But it all boils down to the performance of Eve Hewson who completely sinks into the role of Flora, being both convincingly wacky and serious at the same time.

Carney pulls a Sleepless In Seattle never allowing Jeff and Flora to actually meet each other despite Flora’s initial intention to visit Jeff in LA. For the most part, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is charming even if it means he is barely in “physical” form here and merely strumming his guitar. To put it bluntly, we are watching him and his guitar on Flora’s screen for the most part.

Then there is the beautiful part about Flora and her wayward son and how they connect and reconcile their differences through the love of music. On the whole, Carney’s Flora and Son is yet another crowd-pleaser with its generous doses of comedy, love and dysfunctional family tropes all in a tight 90 minutes or so. It’s not that hard to fall in love with the movie and it’s even harder to resist the original music compositions.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee