John Carney — director of Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street — is back with a new music-centered, Irish-based romance, but is he striking the same old chords? That’s right, we’re reviewing Flora and Son this week, which premiered at the Sundance 2023 Film Festival and is just now hitting streaming. We discuss whether or not the movie fine-tunes the Carney formula, plus we look at the critical reaction and play the Rotten Tomatoes Game.
Flora and Son was directed and written by John Carney and features original songs by Carney and Gary Clark. The cast includes Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jack Reynor, and Orén Kinlan. It opened in limited theatrical release on September 22 and is now streaming on Apple TV+ (with the exception of Ireland, which will be getting a wide release of the film on February 23, 2024). It has a 97-minute runtime.
Our intro music this week is “Which One?” by Glimlip & .multibeat.
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Synopsis for Flora and Son:
TALENT IS RELATIVE. Single mom Flora is at a loss about what to do with her rebellious teenage son, Max. Her efforts to keep him out of trouble lead to a beat-up acoustic guitar, a washed-up LA musician, and harmony for this frayed Dublin family. [Source: Letterboxd]
