Flora and Son, 2023.
Written and Directed by John Carney.
Starring Eve Hewson, Orén Kinlan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amy Huberman, Jack Reynor, Sophie Vavasseur, Kelly Thornton, Keith McErlean, Aislín McGuckin, Marcella Plunkett, and Paul Reid.
SYNOPSIS:
It follows Flora, a single mom who is at war with her son, Max. Trying to find a hobby for Max, she rescues a guitar from a dumpster and finds that one person’s trash can be a family’s salvation.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Flora and Son wouldn’t exist.
With Flora and Son, writer/director John Carney is back once again with charming romance and memorable songs. As usual, he is drawn to music as a connection tool, here bridging that exploration through different genres, generational gaps, and halfway-around-the-world time zone differences with irresistibly disarming results.
The eponymous Dublin-based Flora (a radiant and sassy Eve Hewson) is in a rut, working an unfulfilling babysitting job for a friend (Amy Huberman) and continuously losing touch with her problem child teenager Max (a breakthrough turn from young Orén Kinlan, a combination of humor and teen angst), who is one thievery crime away from getting tossed into a juvenile correctional facility. They consistently find themselves bickering with one another in what starts as harmless and pleasantly funny before, in the blink of an eye, becoming nasty, revealing that John Carney is not afraid to show that, while this is a feel-good optimistic film, this family dynamic is on its last thread and is in desperate need of saving. That balance between typical mother-son arguments and rebellion with a glimpse of something ugly and corrosive underneath ensures that the storytelling never feels too sugary or softened.
Flora unwinds from this stress by hitting up dance clubs and sometimes sleeping with men, but she doesn’t have to worry about them pestering her since they all abandon her anyway upon finding out she is a mother. After one particularly cruel exchange of words between mother and son, Flora comes across a guitar that she gets fixed up for cheap to give to Max as a late birthday gift, hoping that learning a hobby and doing anything with his hands besides being a little kleptomania will keep him out of jail. Unsurprisingly, he is not interested and ungrateful. Meanwhile, Flora decides to rekindle her passion for playing music and search for guitar lessons online.
After wading through a bunch of clowns and posers on YouTube, Flora comes across the washed-up but insightful and handsome American, Jeff (a winning Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is not hindered one bit from mostly performing on Zoom screens, although imaginative directorial touches imagine that the two are in the same area together) and, like the mess she is, instantly starts flirting with him before he can get a lesson in. Aware of his position in power, Jeff resists, and they start over, sticking strictly to lessons. Love is still in the air, though, and the romantic in John Carney doesn’t seem to care that modern society might reject this blossoming relationship on that mentor/pupil dynamic alone. Flora especially doesn’t seem to care, happy to be a muse as they begin reworking one of Jeff’s old songs, which becomes a mesmerizing, soulful duet.
When not partaking in these sessions and getting closer to Jeff, Flora is either dropping Max off at his deadbeat stoner musician father’s house (Jack Reynor) or taking an interest in his exceptional work mixing a song with electronic equipment for a friend and writing personal rap lyrics to sing over the beat. Max’s talent might even potentially be able to bring the entire family back on civil terms, even if Flora’s ex-partner is currently with someone else (which doesn’t stop her from hilariously taunting him about how much more, experimental is the word we will use, she is when it comes to sexual intimacy.)
Thankfully, Flora and Son also don’t take the clichéd love triangle route. The film certainly branches off into several side plots (such as her helping Max win over a girl through some questionable methods culminating with an amusingly realistic payoff), all while never losing focus on developing each character and their relationships with one another. The storytelling is sweet and absorbing, with equal authenticity and grandstanding movie romance. John Carney wisely places Flora in a different location for each lesson session to keep the dynamic fresh and utilizes several bright colors to keep the cheery tone.
No one will be caught off guard by how catchy and distinctly effective each song is (whether it’s something romantic or silly like the irreverent, gut-busting rap, “Dublin 07”), but the observation about music as an art form or also on-point, such as a bit where Jeff gets sidetracked ranting about that unbearably corny James Blunt song “You’re Beautiful” having no soul, and how music like it is comparable to Stockholm Syndrome, intended to manipulate a woman’s emotions without any real substance behind it. The songwriting process is a huge component of developing these characters and their relationships, with passion on display in the screenplay for the dedication and heart that go into piecing together meaningful lyrics.
Admittedly, a good portion of the third act does feel rushed, and much of this is not exactly uncharted territory for John Carney, but he is also so damn skilled at sweeping viewers up into the lives of these characters, whether it be the romance, songs, or family drama. Eve Hewson is also remarkable as a woman juggling responsibilities, a family on the verge of falling apart, and new love while interrogating what she wants out of life and how she deserves to go after those things regardless of having a child when she was young.
Flora and Son is another hit from John Carney, perfectly in his wheelhouse, sincere about love and the power of music as we fall for these characters with an unbreakable smile.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
