REVIEW: Flora and Son [2023]

Rating: R | Runtime: 97 minutes
Release Date: September 21st, 2023 (Ireland) / September 22nd, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Apple TV+
Director(s): John Carney
Writer(s): John Carney

You don’t know the first thing about women if you think that.

You know what to expect from a John Carney film at this point. There’s going to be music. It will be heartfelt romantically, platonically, or a mix of both. And a lesson will be learned through the cathartic power of songwriting—not just song, but songwriting. That’s an important distinction and I think a big part of his charm as a filmmaker. His films deal with process, both for his characters’ lives and the music they create.

Flora and Son is about a mother and son at a crossroads. They’ve cohabitated for fourteen years and the strain has become unbearable. Flora (Eve Hewson) had Max (Orén Kinlan) at seventeen after hooking up with ex-husband Ian (Jack Reynor) while he was on tour with his band. She hoped having him would change something in her, but she was still a kid herself wanting to go out clubbing and dancing without constantly having to worry about his wellbeing once Ian all but entirely exited the picture. Let’s just say she’s never been good at hiding those feelings from Max.

Now he’s an a rebellious age. Out all night. Getting arrested for shoplifting. Doing anything possible to get noticed by his parents regardless of the result making them resent him more. But the moment has arisen where their friendly neighborhood police officer is done giving chances. He warns that the next incident will result in juvenile detention and advises they find a hobby to keep Max occupied. Flora sees an old guitar and thinks, “Why not?” She isn’t close enough to him to know he does actually like music, though. So, despite him wanting it, he refuses because there was no “thought” to count. Especially since his birthday went uncelebrated the previous day.

It’s a familiar if relevant set-up that progresses into Flora deciding to use the guitar herself. Get her own hobby to have a distraction and not be so angry when Max screws up again. With the help of a twenty-dollar-a-session teacher via Skype in LA (Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Jeff), this Dubliner discovers she actually enjoys playing and even has an aptitude for writing songs. The path from that revelation to the finale proves super saccharine and cliché-ridden (despite Flora telling Max he isn’t living inside a movie), but it packs a ton of heart to win you over anyway.

Hewson is very good and Kinlan provides the perfect catalyst and contrast to both rile her up and thaw her heart. Max is a good kid who doesn’t feel loved—the heartbreak upon thinking he’s found something his mother is willing to do with him only for her to reply “Now?” is soul-crushing. And Flora is on the cusp of realizing that she has made a habit of putting herself first. Yes, it seems the film is saying you can use an activity to substitute in for love, but I think Carney sticks the landing insofar as using that activity to unearth the love instead.

Flora and Son might not be as great as Once or Sing Street, but it is charmingly sweet and funny en route to a rousing bow-tied ending performance that should have you leaving with a smile on your face. Like Flora’s critique of Jeff’s original song, however, I’m not sure there will be a need to watch it again.