John Carney has carved himself quite an interesting Dublin-based, musical niche. The advice of "write what you know" can be controversial, but here is an example of someone who seems to have leaned into it and the results are consistently excellent. Flora is not the type of protagonist we see very often, with flaws prominently on display, but the writing and performance was nuanced enough to win me over. Not just to sympathize with her situation, but to cheer for her. The relationships are interesting, the dialogue feels real, and the story comes together in an unexpected way. The one thing holding the movie back for me was some pacing problems, as I felt like things were rushed in the back half. At only 97 minutes, it seems like there was room to let things breathe a bit more.
Once (2007) was a strong, unforced little masterpiece. Since then, each Carney music-based "savior" film, Begin Again (2013) and now Flora and Son (2023), is like a Xerox copy—degrading with each iteration.
The music is average, at best (the final number is godawful). It's the story of the music teacher and the student what elevates this from every other dysfunctional family drama.
This is one of those movies where you set your brain aside for a minute and just go with the movie. If this movie isn't a star-making vehicle for Eve Hewson then I don't know what is. I had previously enjoyed her in Bad Sisters, but I had no idea that she had this kind of talent. She literally jumps off of the screen because of her charisma, and some of the scenes with Joseph Gordon-Levitt are absolutely magical (the device they use was so, so good). The movie is just such a sweet and funny story.... as you can tell, I loved it.
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I had high expectations having been obsessed with Begin Again and its songs for the past 8 years and I feel like that made me judge this movie slightly unfairly. Cause I loved it and it's good. But definitely not as good. As Flora said, would I want to hear it again? Not really.
Beautiful movie. Absolutely loved it.
The camera work , the screenplay, the music , everything's perfect.
Highly recommended.
9/10
Shout by Lee Brown Barrow Movie BuffVIP 3BlockedParent2023-10-07T08:49:36Z
Another inspirational movie about the power of music from Carney.