In John Carney’s delightful Flora and Son, Flora (Eve Hewson) is a boisterous, messy and mouthy Dubliner with a bad attitude. Her life sucks, and she knows exactly why – she dropped out of school at 17 to have a baby. As an unskilled single mom, she is barely scraping by on babysitter gigs, and her motherhood status is scaring away potential boyfriends. And the baby has grown into Max (Orén Kinlan), a teenager with a tongue as sharp as his mom’s, and he’s smart and sensitive enough to appreciate his mom’s resentment of him. Max has been acting out, understandably, and already has a probation officer.
Flora dumpster-dives for a discarded guitar, intending it as a free and belated birthday gift for Max. He sees thru her thoughtlessness and rejects the gift. Flora, on a whim, decides to take guitar lessons from a guy on YouTube, chiefly because he is laid back and looks like a movie star. Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an unsuccessful musician in Topanga Canyon, connects with Flora on Zoom and somehow unlocks music as a way to express herself.
Will Jeff become more than a fantasy figure to Flora. Will Max stay out of jail? Most importantly, will Flora redeem herself as a mother?
Flora is a force of nature, and Eve Hewson’s performance carries the film. It takes a lot for an audience to root for an unashamedly bad mom, but Hewson wins us over with the depth of her passions, both misplaced and well-placed ones.
Gordon-Levitt is excellent as always and gets to show off his impressive musical chops.
Flora and Son’s themes of songwriting and romance remind us of Carney’s 2007 film Once, starring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who won the Best Song Oscar for their Falling Slowly. Once is even a better film than Flora and Son and has better music; it can be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
But Flora and Son itself is good-hearted and entertaining. Flora and Son is playing some theaters and is streaming on AppleTV.