Ebullient and effervescent yet gritty and real, Flora and Son is just a plain bracingly great time at the movies, combining romance with reality and reinventing the musical to be about REAL music and the feelings that make it move us–literally. It’s from director/writer John Carney, who also gave us the Oscar winner Once and Golden Globe-nominated Sing Street. Flora (Eve Hewson–and what a discovery she is!) is something of a hot mess. She’s feisty, charismatic, and a trouble magnet. She loves to party – but she loves her 14-year-old son Max more, even if it seems like all they do is quarrel. In an effort to bridge the gulf between them, Flora gives Max a guitar, but Max’s ideal musical instrument is his computer, which he uses to construct infectious dance tracks. Rather than let the guitar collect dust, Flora opts to develop her own musical chops, taking online lessons from Jeff (a truly irresistible Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a handsome troubadour who shows Flora how to form basic chords and introduces her to the genius of Joni Mitchell. Flora falls for Jeff, despite the fact that she’s in Dublin and he’s in Los Angeles. But as Jeff pierces Flora’s heart, he also inspires in her a creative urge that might lead to a whole new way of connecting with Max. Stay through the end credits and past–you won’t want to leave anyway, and there’s more sweet surprises to Flora and Son even there!

This film is eligible for the Youth Arts Access Fund. Call the Box Office at 207.873.7000 to obtain YAAF tickets. Pay it forward! Donate to YAAF here.

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