Flora and Son

Once writer-director John Carney has made another winning, if flawed, film about music and love with a standout lead turn from Eve Hewson.

The mother-son dynamic is a little less effectively wrought, stretching both credulity (a teenager allowing his mother to shoot him making a rap video to impress a girl is … There are initial echoes of the far superior Wild Rose – a foul-mouthed, heavy-drinking reluctant single mother working in a domestic role looks at music as a way forward – but Flora and Son is a softer, simpler film, with moments of crudeness that ultimately give way to something sweeter. Music then acts as a transformative force, as it often does in Carney’s work, leading Flora to a long-distance flirtation, a renewed sense of self and a way to reconnect with her son and combine his love for making dance music on his laptop.

John Carney continues to make odes to the power of song, and they seem to keep working.

Of course, the philosophy of Flora and Son ignores plenty of real ills that plague people's lives. But the music serves a bigger purpose for Flora: it’s used as a bridge toward her son, toward her ex-husband (Jack Reynor), and toward the idea of growth and possibility. The premiere audience—which was, yes, made up of plenty of people who worked on the film—was aroar by the film’s final burst of music, cheering and clapping along just as they were intended to. Whatever the future holds for Flora and Son once it leaves the mountains, it was certainly a crowd-pleaser here. Maybe it’s the Irish accents, maybe it’s the one lovely song that Flora and Jeff write together, or maybe it’s my altitude madness, but Flora and Son played more charming than cloying to me. (Or maybe I’m the one who’s blinkered.) He’s got such faith in people to want more and better for each other, to offer up forgiveness readily. It’s a cute little device, and allows for a warm chemistry to develop between the film’s two stars. She’s certainly a far cry from the clinical gloom of The Knick, the Steven Soderbergh series in which she had her first breakout role. It’s a nice movie about people who are mostly nice—deep down, anyway. Rather than keep the film’s biggest star in the digital distance, Carney places Jeff in the room, or in the park, or in one lovely scene on a roof, right there beside Flora. The Irish musician and filmmaker rose to fame with Once and has largely spent his career since making movies, like Sing Street, about people falling in love with music, and often with each other. Thus she meets Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a scruffy-dashing guitar man who lives in Southern California.

Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt sing their hearts out in this delightful Irish dramedy.

He understands the pure cinematic magic of having two smoking hot people sing their hearts out to each other in a stripped-down, vulnerable way, and the intimacy that arises is enough to overcome whatever shortcomings you may find in the music itself. His films may not all reach the emotional heights of "Sing Street," but he's able to draw you close in such a way that you forget about the occasional missed note and stay focused on the emotions, a winning strategy that should continue to serve him and audiences well. In fact, he's kind of a dick in certain moments, dismissive and judging her tastes. She heads to YouTube to learn how to play, and soon stumbles across Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a failed musician who's now teaching guitar lessons from his home in Los Angeles. She had her son, Max (Oren Kinlan), when she was just 17 and feels like she hasn't had a chance to truly live her life, but Carney isn't willing to give her a pass and paint her as a martyr. He got his start with 2007's "Once," which won an Oscar for Best Original Song, and he followed it up with movies like 2013's "Begin Again" and 2016's sensational "Sing Street."

LOVE/HATE star Laurence Kinlan who played Elmo was left in tears as he watched his son star in a new film alongside Eve Hewson.Kinlan's son Oren took.

The NERVE." Fans were delighted to see the sweet video and many shared their love and excitement for the upcoming film. Eve reposted the video captioning it: "My love for the Kinlan’s is forever more.." He said: "@EveHewson gives the best performance she has ever given and you’ll see her forever more, what a talent." The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival where the cast, their families and fans got a chance to see the film for the first time. Posting on Twitter to share the special moment, Laurence Kinlan wrote: "Tonight we cried many a tear seeing our son on screen at Sundance in his first leading role in a film ‘Flora and Son’.

Heading into Monday evening Apple and Amazon were understood to be in hot pursuit of Sundance crowd-pleaser Flora And Son as bidding reached the high teens ...

UTA Independent Film Group continues eight-figure negotiations on Andrew Durham’s US Dramatic Competition entry Fairyland, which Arclight Films represents for international. There is also a worldwide offer on the table for The Eternal Memory, Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent follow-up about an aging Chilean couple dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. A worldwide streamer offer is understood to be in for Beyond Utopia, Madeleine Gavin’s highly regarded film about North Korean defectors that premiered in US Documentary Competition.

With hit films like 'Once' and 'Sing Street' under his belt, John Carney is hoping that his latest endeavour 'Flora and Son' will repeat the success of its ...

'Flora and Son' stars Eve Hewson as the young mother of a teenage son (played by Orén Kinlan), who has separated from his father (Jack Reynor) but makes a connection with a musician (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). As you might have sussed via the name, Orén is the son of actor Laurence Kinlan (aka Elmo from 'Love/Hate'), who tweeted proudly while sharing footage from the premiere. Like both of those films, 'Flora and Son' debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday night, and has already attracted positive reviews - with Indiewire calling it "another cozy, crowd-pleasing Irish musical", and The Guardian saying that it was a "musical crowd-pleaser" that "plays a simple but sweet tune."

Laurence Kinlan was a very proud dad this week, as he watched his son Orén star alongside Eve Hewson in his first major acting role.

He was incredible! “It was everything and more. It was everything and more.

The latest movie from Irish writer-director John Carney (Sing Street) is picking up some very good reviews after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

But damned if it doesn’t sock you right in the ticker anyway." [One of the best war movies of recent years is finally available to watch at home](https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/devotion-prime-video-765358) [Netflix has just added one of the best sci-fi movies of recent years](https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/vesper-netflix-ireland-sci-fi-765447) [One of the funnest movies of the '90s is getting a TV reboot](https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/true-lies-series-tv-reboot-sequel-765474) It was everything and more. The Playlist - "Flora and Son is a tiny lil’ wisp of a movie with nothing particularly new to say or an especially fresh way to say it. He was incredible! After Max has a run-in with the Gardaí, Flora is encouraged to find her son a hobby.

Apple Original Films has secured global rights to John Carney's Flora and Son, following a buzzy Sundance launch for the film. The music drama starring Eve ...

Oren Kinlan and Jack Reynor also star in the film. After rescuing a beat-up guitar from a dumpster, she finds that one person’s trash can be a family’s salvation. Apple Original Films has secured global rights to John Carney’s Flora and Son in a deal believed to be in the $20m range, following a buzzy Sundance launch for the film.

John Carney's "Flora and Son" sells to Apple out of Sundance in massive deal.

Carney is a master of these music-infused movies, having previously scored with the likes of “Sing Street” and “Once.” “Flora and Son” is also viewed as one of the more commercial offerings at a festival where some studio executives have grumbled that there are a lot of creatively fulfilling movies that are tough sells. The film’s uplifting story resonated with Sundance crowds and critics. The “Sing Street” filmmakers big-ticket deal follows “Fair Play,” a psychosexual drama that went to Netflix for $20 million.

After a fierce bidding battle that followed the rousing premiere Sunday Sundance premiere, Apple is closing a deal for Flora and Son.

[Sundance](https://deadline.com/tag/sundance/) premiere, Apple is closing a deal for [Flora and Son](https://deadline.com/tag/flora-and-son/), the [John Carney](https://deadline.com/tag/john-carney/)-directed film that stars [Eve Hewson](https://deadline.com/tag/eve-hewson/), [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](https://deadline.com/tag/joseph-gordon-levitt/), Oren Kinlan and [Jack Reynor](https://deadline.com/tag/jack-reynor/). Many fans of Carney’s singular film creations have wondered when one of these terrific little pictures really launches his star, and this might be the one. Carney unveiled his first film Once at Sundance years ago, and shown he is a master craftsman at telling stories about the healing power of music.