Flora and Son (2023)

Flora's a struggling single mom with a teen who's constantly being picked up by police for minor infractions. She's still living like a kid herself: staying in clubs 'til closing, bringing one night stands back to the apartment and filching cash from her boss's purse. As a late birthday present to her son, she grabs a battered guitar out of a dumpster and has it cleaned up and restrung but he's not interested so she decides to give it a go herself.

It's a truly heartwarming story. Flora's world opens up as she gets to know her online American guitar teacher and begins to connect with her son through music. The script smartly keeps this from being a magical "happily ever after"-type of story -- there're are plenty of bumps for this family -- but that's what grounds this. Time and effort are what matter here: both when learning a new skill and when working on relationships.

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