Flora and Son (2023)

Direction: John Carney
Country: Ireland 

Irish writer and director John Carney has a track record of successful music dramas in his filmography, with films like Once (2007) and Sing Street (2016). However, his latest effort, Flora and the Son, falls flat. It’s a crowd-pleaser that lazily resorts to cheesiness in an attempt to compensate for its plot limitations. The film suffers from an artificial quality, and the sickly sweet songs, while trying to tug at the heartstrings, contribute little to the overall substance.

The story revolves around Flora (Eve Hewson), an angry and frustrated single mother from Dublin who is struggling to find her way in life after separating from Ian (Jack Reynor), a once-successful musician whose career hit a roadblock when his band broke up. Flora’s delinquent teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan), frequently challenges her, and seems condemned to spend time in a correction facility. However, Flora, who works as a babysitter, discovers the transformative power of music when she starts taking online guitar lessons with L.A.-based teacher Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The latter reveals his own personal insecurities, but becomes the catalyst for Flora and her son to forge a bond that never had existed before. 

Carney seemed inclined to embrace the realism of directors like Ken Loach, but then gets too busy honey-coating musical sequences marred by cloying sentimentality. Sadly, they never fill you up. By failing to provide deeper dimension to his characters and their life struggles, Carney's film loses its appeal with each passing scene. Manipulative and superficially constructed to escape monotony, Flora and Son repeatedly hits the same uninspiring notes throughout its duration.

Rheingold (2023)

Direction: Fatih Akin
Country: Germany 

While German writer-director Fatih Akin’s early films, such as Head-On (2004) and The Edge of Heaven (2007), are compelling choices, Rheingold - a tale of immigration, violence, and music based on the biography of German rapper Xatar - falls short of the mark. The movie chronicles the journey of Giwar Hajabi (Emilio Sakraya), a young Kurdish-Iranian immigrant who turns to a life of crime and drug trafficking before gaining notoriety as a music artist while incarcerated. However, both the segments portraying the street gangster and the musician prisoner prove to be tedious and unengaging.

Spanning 30 years, the narrative initially sparks interest but gradually loses its grip by resorting to standardized routines often seen in gangster action dramas. Rheingold struggles to offer moments that feel particularly original or inspired. The film is marred by a messy structure, lackluster storytelling, choppy editing, and dull action sequences. Frankly not likable, it lacks the excitement needed to leave a lasting impression. 

In summary, this amalgamation of gangsta-rap and gangland themes is a soulless misfire from a director we know capable of delivering better.

The Bohemian (2023)

Direction: Petr Václav
Country: Czech Republic / Italy / Slovakia 

Eight years after dedicating a documentary to Josef Myslivecek, the talented Czech director Petr Václav unleashes his imagination by crafting a full-length fictional biopic about this Prague-born composer whose operas influenced the young Mozart and earned acclaim in 18-century Italy. Despite this, he lived penniless throughout his life and was quickly forgotten.

The story, constructed as a long flashback, covers his life and work in Italy. There’s a curious prologue that portrays the disfigured composer (Vojtěch Dyk) struggling to survive in 1971 Rome. The narrative winds back to 1765 Venice, when he declined to marry a wealthy cello student to pursue a scalding relationship with a hedonistic aristocrat (Elena Radonicich ) who manages to put him in contact with the most celebrated opera singer of that time, the moody Caterina Gabrielle (Barbara Ronchi). His career takes off in Naples, and eventually leading him to Bologna, where he reunites with the love of his life, Baroness Anna Fracassati (Lana Vladi). But this woman is held captive by a violent and jealous husband. In Padua, syphilis gets him disfigured, and he departs to Rome later for a cold, futile musical reunion with Gabrielli.  

Classical music and carnal pleasure go hand in hand in a film that captures the charm and the vulgarity of the eccentric artistic society of that era. Humor is often present but the film is not devoid of disturbing moments. Václav portrays all of this marvelously, and his grandiose ambition is rewarded with beautifully composed shots, impressive lighting techniques, detailed settings, and an elegant costume design. Yet, by always placing the characters at the forefront, there’s a bittersweet, mundane flavor that thwarts any artsy pretension. 

Even with some deviations from historical truth, the director provides a fair view of the artist and his personality, in a ballsy move that avoids the pitfalls of academicism and period dramas.

The Sparks Brothers (2021)

Direction: Edgar Wright
Country: UK / USA

This music documentary directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, 2004; Hot Fuzz, 2007; Baby Driver, 2017) about the odd, cartoonish and enigmatic group Sparks - composed of inseparable brothers Ron and Russell Mael - becomes overlong and unexciting as we are informed about the duo’s changes in style throughout the years (from proto-punk and glam-rock to danceable synth-pop and experimental dance-rock) and collaborations not only in music (Giorgio Moroder, The Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin) but also in the movies (they wrote the script and compose the music for Leos Carax's musical Annette, and almost worked with Jacques Tati). The bizarre and kitsch glamour in their looks is also topic.

Employing too many interviewees in its lopsided structure - including music personalities such as Beck, Flea, Vince Clark, Thurston Moore, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, as well as fans of the band - Wright affects the flow of the film, which stutters with repetition and monotonous episodes.

As the self-indulgence imposes, the film offers less and less. It’s difficult to imagine much of an audience for The Sparks Brothers; at least, some other than the cult-like admirers that idolize them.

Summer of Soul (2021)

Direction: Ahmir “Questlove" Thompson
Country: USA

This clear-eyed music documentary directed by hip-hop/neo-soul artist Ahmir “Questlove" Thompson (from the band The Roots) puts on view unseen footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which sat unpublished in a basement for 50 years. The six-week event took place at Mount Morris Park in a hot summer and got virtually no publicity when compared to Woodstock, despite counting on impressive performances from major black artists. The film elucidates that the festival wasn’t just about the music but also about the proud of being black, the demand for change and the necessity of progress for the African-American people and Latin communities. The time was of political and racial unrest, more important concerns of the Harlem population than the same year’s moon landing of the Apollo 11. People clearly needed that music to drive away depression and white repression.

Questlove interviewed both attendees and public figures, and the performances were varied, going from soul/funk and gospel (Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, The Staple Singers) to jazz (Nina Simone, Max Roach/Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Mann, Sonny Sharrock) to Latin/world music (Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Hugh Masekela). Also the blues (BB King) and the Motown sound (Temptation’s David Ruffin, Gladys Knight) served to delight the enthusiastic crowd.

As a melting pot of killing grooves and a vibrant push on the civil rights movement, the festival, which was born from a bold initiative by Tony Lawrence with the support of the mayor of New York, John Lindsay (a charismatic Republican who was popular among black people), was a rejoicing experience. Trust me, the heat is real and the communion incredible.