Writer-director John Carney’s crowd-pleasing movie musicals are similar to the infectiously catchy pop songs that soundtrack them so spectacularly. His movies, like the songs he helps write for them, celebrate the human spirit in heartfelt, emotional, and uplifting ways. However, underneath their charm and feel-good surfaces also lies a deceptive, painful truth that Carney can’t help but fixate on: humans long to connect, despite not knowing how to communicate with each other. As his latest film Flora and Son (now streaming on Apple TV+) shows, sometimes the universal language of music is the only thing that can allow us to connect.

 

Set in Carney’s native home country of Dublin, Ireland, the film follows fiery, foul-mouthed Flora (Eve Hewson), a lively young mother struggling to make ends meet. Spirited but scattered, Flora’s world has been reduced to fit inside a cramped apartment where she is raising her young, rebellious son Max (Orén Kinlon), and where the walls rattle from the daily shouting matches before Max storms off. Warned that his punkish behavior could land him in the court system, Flora happens upon a secondhand guitar, which she tunes and gifts to her son–to no effect.

As boredom sets in, Flora decides to learn guitar herself, signing up for online lessons where she meets upbeat, Los Angeles-based Jeff (Joseph Gordon Levitt). Drawn to her hilarious sense of humor and wry coaxing, the pair become closer, and soon Jeff is sharing original songs with Flora, which inspires her to do the same. Her newfound musical interest not only gives her an identity and sense of life purpose, but becomes a way for her to connect with Max who she learns has been producing hip-hop and electronic pop music. The more music Flora brings into her world, the deeper she connects to Max and Jeff. Life, however, can get in the way of even the best melodies, she soon discovers.

 

Fans of Carney’s (like me) will recognize that while his films are unabashedly feel-good fun, his characters are charmingly defiant rebels whose artistic spirits bump them up against the system. Going back to his directorial debut and star-making arrival with 2007’s Once, to 2013’s Begin Again, and through 2016’s Sing Street, Carney’s characters are often scraping to get by, and nearly down for the count after suffering life’s punches. That is, until they discover the literal music inside of them which allows them to express their inner truths and live their fullest lives.

 

 

Flora and Son is so delightful, funny, heartwarming, and charming. And yet, while I loved it so much, it’s also not Carney’s best film (that remains Once, with Sing Street quickly behind). For one thing, the film is quite contained. The choice to have Flora and Jeff’s relationship defined over the computer brings about limitations (I’m sure it was a conscious decision to illustrate their distance, another pandemic-era effect). However, Carney still breathes creative life into these scenes by cleverly staging ways to bring the presence of Flora and Jeff into each other’s intimate living space through their conversations, illustrating the intensity of their bond

 

But to review the film alone would be half-complete. Scored by John Carney and Gary Clark, the original songs are once again catchy, and moving. They have played in my head since I watched it, giving me chills as I bopped around in my seat during several of the catchy numbers. The songwriting might not reach the soaring highs of Once, or the unique synth energy of Sing Street, but songs like “Meet in the Middle” and “High Life” are fantastic and deserve to stand alone outside of the film.

 

Beyond John Carney’s writing and direction, plus the wonderful songs, Flora and Son works because of its cast. Led by Eve Hewson, who embodies the main character of Flora amazingly, balancing her foul-mouthed toughness with a tender, funny, heartfelt spirit that also announces a star-making turn (she does have star-making charisma in her, being the daughter of Bono). Pairing well with her character is Orén Kinlon as her frustrated son Max. Jack Reynor pops up as Flora’s former partner, Max’s dad, in a shared custody situation. And rounding out the talent, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as Jeff, brings his naturally warm-hearted self, along with musical chops, to pair well with Flora and give the movie its heart.

 

Flora and Son is a funny, heartfelt film, full of humor, heart, and infectious and emotional music. If this is your first start with John Carney, I’d recommend starting from the beginning and watching all his films. Through this cinematic journey, you might even discover the music that’s inside of you.

 

1h 37m. Rated R for language throughout, sexual references, and brief drug use.