Where I Watched it: Apple Plus
English Audio Description?: Yes
I would like to first state that John Carney clearly is beating us over the head with the power of music. I’d love to see him direct an honest to God musical, in the most truest sense instead of these films about musicians playing music that matters. I really wonder if his love of music could resonate in a musical adaptation of something headed to the big screen. Perhaps Spring Awakening would be up his alley?
Flora and Son is my least favorite John Carney film, but for the guy who brought Once, Sing Street, and Begin Again, that’s really such a high bar. Here, he embraces the idea of the power of music by having our lead character be a fan of music, but not really a musician herself. Eve Hewson plays Flora, a mother struggling to keep her son from being a juvenile delinquent in their turbulent interactions, and hoping for a bit of support from her ex-husband, a former rocker that opened for Snow Patrol once. She finds a guitar, buys it thinking her son might like it, he doesn’t, so she decides to change her life by taking online guitar lessons. After seeing many potential teachers, she lands on Jeff (who presumably lives at home), played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. The two exchange truths, and the film walks that romantic possibility without ever being sappy or obvious about where it is headed.
Flora is a tough character to relate with because she sometimes seems like her parenting skills are on point, and other times she gets mad and becomes the child in the relationship and storms off. the maturity growth is what we look for in her character, but it’s impossible to find when her relationships with adults are stunted, and her entire potential is in whether or not her son turns out to be a loser. Luckily, as she learns how to play, they start to bond over the various differences in their musical tastes, and create something of their own.
it’s a strong performance from hewson who is likely using this to keep climbing the ranks of actresses who should be hired in Hollywood, but it’s also a bit of a far cry from the typical Oscar performance. Sure, she shows range, but Carney could have pushed her further if he wasn’t thinking about the music. This films best shot at a nomination is in Original Song.
The audio description is kind of interesting, as it describes how carney shoots the interactions between Hewson and Levitt, as they almost are dreamlike, with Levitt being taken and put into the same room as hewson, as if they are playing together.This does become a problem in one scene where they were set to perform on stage, and I thought he had actually flown across the pond, but instead he was still virtual. I eventually figured it out, but would have appreciated a more definite description up front.
This is not Apple’s top priority for the Oscars this year. They have the very expensive Killers of The Flower moon and Napoleon to campaign, and this is going to get lost in the coming onslaught of Oscar contenders.
If you like John Carney’s previous films, you will like this.
Final Grade: B+
