Flora and Son

Directed by John Carney, Flora and Son details the exploits of a working-class single mother (Eve Hewson’s Flora) and her efforts at finding herself through music. Filmmaker Carney, armed with his own screenplay, delivers an exceedingly familiar yet mostly entertaining piece of work that benefits from its low-key atmosphere and various performances, with, in terms of the latter, Hewson’s consistently winning and compelling turn going a long way towards anchoring (and elevating) the proceedings on a regular basis. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Hewson and costar Joseph Gordon-Levitt possess ample chemistry together, which ensures that the movie is, generally speaking, at its best during their scenes together.) And although the picture’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink sensibilities do result in a handful of lulls, particularly as Carney emphasizes Flora’s son’s legal problems, Flora and Son builds towards a tremendously satisfying, crowd-pleasing finale that ensures it ends on just about as positive a note as one could envision – with the final result a top-notch music-themed drama that joins the ranks of superb similarly-themed endeavors like Hearts Beat Loud and Carney’s own Begin Again.

*** out of ****