Title: Flora and Son
MPA Rating: R
Director: John Carney
Starring: Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jack Reynor
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

What It Is: Flora (Hewson) is a single mom. Struggling to raise her teenage son, a teenage son who doesn’t particularly like her. When she finds a beat up old guitar in the trash she decides it might make a great gift for Max (Orén Kinlan) her aforementioned son. He doesn’t want it. So Flora decides that she wants to learn guitar. When she decides to choose Jeff (Gordon-Levitt) as her online guitar teacher they are exactly what each of the two needed for one and other.

What We Think: John Carney does not miss. I repeat DOES NOT MISS. Through his last 4 motion picture releases (Sing Street, Begin Again, Once and here) he’s crafted beautiful, deeply personal, music oriented films. Whether we’re exploring Dublin with a new couple of buskers or New York City with a drunken PR man, Carney always seems to be able to capture the essence of his characters, their settings and their emotions. This is no different Flora isn’t the best mother but dammit she’s trying. Max isn’t the most cooperative kid but he’s there for his mother sometimes. Their relationship is growing and evolving and that’s where Carney’s magic is. Through song and script Carney shows us how amazing music can be at conveying emotions and telling stories…once again.

Our Grade: A-, I cannot more highly recommend you get an AppleTV+ subscription. There’s more on there than just Ted Lasso. They aren’t a sponsor but they do sometimes just bring out the fire with their original films. From Oscar winner CODA, to festival darling Cha Cha Real Smooth the diversity in writing, storytelling and overall cinematic integrity are high and frankly John Carney is quickly moving up my list of favorite directors. Check this one out for sure.