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Written and directed by John Carney, Flora and Son is a working class romcom with edge. Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters) plays Flora, a young single mother who divides her time equally between nightclubs, nannying, and looking after her teenage son Max (Oren Kinlan). Set in and around Dublin, Carney ensures that this grounded romcom never feels unrealistic, focusing on the relationships that hold this community together.
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Trapped inside a pocky tenement flat with her son, Flora and Max argue constantly as she tries to play the role of both disciplinarian and doting mother. Ian (Jack Reynor) the absentee father, has already moved on and moved in with another woman, leaving his son without the support he so desperately needs. The fact this all gets resolved through some on-line guitar lessons with Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an LA-based singer-songwriter, who Flora randomly selects after another bitter argument is where things become a touch predictable.
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Everything about that moment undermines the dramatic groundwork and character beats Carney has put in place, as well as bending over backwards to accommodate conventions. Joseph Gordon-Levitt maybe an accomplished actor and everything about their opening exchange via webcam should feel wrong. Awkward discussions around Flora’s musical motivations lean into the darker themes of single parenting and loneliness, while Levitt tries to emote from inside a laptop. Then the oddest thing happens, because despite all the cliches of re-connection through shared musical passion that underpin events going forward – Flora and Son works.
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Small in-camera tricks bring Jeff and Flora closer together and somehow this romcom pushes all the right buttons. Eve Hewson is a revelation opposite Oren Kinlan, who manages to play the disruptive teenager without drifting into cliche. Their common ground might be musical, but Carney never over eggs the pudding, and this film avoids losing its edge. Flora and Son manages to capture the intangible influence of music on people, that incites passion and eloquently tempers emotional loss. It makes some relatable points about relationships forged through creativity and closes on a working-class crescendo that narrowly avoids feeling convoluted.
Image via AppleTV+
With an ensemble cast that combines elements of Begin Again, also directed by John Carney, Flora and Son is a truly undiscovered gem. Not only hitting all the right notes, but effortlessly playing them in the wrong order to create something magical. For Apple devotees and newbies alike, this should be added to watchlists with all haste and enjoyed at your leisure.
Flora and Son is available to stream on AppleTV now.