Why John Carney Needed to Write ‘Good, Not Great’ Music for ‘Flora and Son’

Songs are key to the movies made by Irish musician-turned-director John Carney, but the path to those songs was clearer in his previous films “Once” (an Oscar winner for “Falling Slowly”), “Begin Again” (a nominee for “Lost Stars”) and “Sing Street” than it was for “Flora and Son,” which stars Eve Hewson as a young mother who uses music to connect with her sullen teenage kid.

“There’s a point where you have to go, what’s the sound of this film?” Carney said. “’Once’ was folksy and acoustic. ‘Sing Street’ was ’80s pop. But I didn’t know what this one was. I knew what Flora sounds like when she’s talking and I knew what the movie would look like, but I had no idea what music they were creating.”