Flora and Son

A music film set in Dublin. Flora became a mother young. Her son Max is fourteen and in trouble with the police; he takes small things and talks to nobody. Flora is out at night, minds children by day, and the two argue constantly. One day she finds a guitar thrown out in the street. She has it repaired and gives it to her son. Max does not want it. Flora tries playing it herself. Online she finds a teacher giving lessons over video: Jeff, who lives in Los Angeles. The lessons start through a screen and in time stop being lessons. Meanwhile it emerges that Max is making music; he builds his own tracks on his computer and shows nobody. Where the film goes is the joining of those two lines: mother and son cannot talk, but they can make a song together. The songs are written inside the film and the actors sing them themselves. Eve Hewson plays Flora, Orén Kinlan plays Max and Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Jeff. John Carney directed; he is known for films built on music and this comes from the same vein. It was shown at Sundance and released on a streaming service. An enjoyable choice for anyone who likes musical drama and Irish cinema. For a viewer expecting a complicated narrative, the film takes a simple route and shows its ending early.