Flora and Son
Out 29 September, Apple TV+
Stars: Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Oren Kinlan
Flora (Hewson) is a single mother in Ireland who struggles to raise and relate to her teenage son, Max (Kinlan). As his rebellious streak grows, and he gets into trouble that draws the admonishment of the authorities, she buys him an acoustic guitar to try to occupy his idle hands. After he rejects her gift, Flora decides to learn to play the guitar herself, and meets an online music tutor (Gordon-Levitt) from Los Angeles. With his help, over time, she realises that she can bond with her son through music after all.
Eve Hewson: This must be her place
A rising star with a celebrity dad, the Irish actress goes back to her roots in Dublin, playing a single mom raising her son, in her latest role.
If you only know Eve Hewson from her latest work, you might think she was being typecast.
An actress with a famous father, the 32-year-old Irishwoman was originally dissuaded from becoming an artiste by her parents.
In spite of what her mother and father, who happens to be Bono, the lead singer of megaband U2, told her, Hewson has carved out a promising career for herself without any help or handouts from her folks.
After making her acting debut in a short film as a teenager, a 20-year-old Hewson got positive reviews in her first major role opposite Sean Penn in Paolo Sorrentino’s 2011 film, This Must Be the Place.
She has gone on to star in movies including Blood Ties (2013) and Robin Hood (2018), as the heroine Marian, and was also cast in Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed espionage thriller Bridge of Spies (2015).
No stranger to television work, after appearing in the Steven Soderbergh-directed historical medical series, The Knick, in 2014 and 2015, Hewson has more recently performed in the supernatural series Behind Her Eyes (2021) and dark comedy Bad Sisters (2022), opposite Sharon Horgan.
In the latter, she plays the youngest of five sisters who are investigated in the mysterious death of her abusive brother-in-law.
A graduate of New York University, Hewson, whose middle names include the words “Sunny Day”, last appeared on the big screen opposite Ethan Hawke in the 2020 film, Tesla, about the engineer and inventor of the same name.
She can next be seen in the musical comedy, Flora and Son, in which she plays a single mom who struggles to connect with her estranged son, and decides one day to get him a guitar.
Given the premise, it’s no surprise that Hewson gets to sing and play in this latest role, and to show off her talents in spite of her parents’ earlier wishes.
The Breaking Ice
Out in cinemas now (Available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, Qu Chuxiao
Nana (Zhou) is a tour guide who lives in a cold and forbidding city on the border of northern China. She flirts with her friend Xiao (Qu), a disaffected young man who works in a restaurant, but their budding relationship is at an impasse. One day, a big-city dweller named Haofeng (Liu) arrives to engage Nana for a tour, and his presence seems to stir up dormant emotions. Nana invites Xiao on her travels with Haofeng and the trio of twentysomethings start to bond. Soon, they begin to confront their inner struggles and desires.
SAFRA members enjoy special discounts on MovieMax Member rates and Combo Sets at Shaw Theatres. For more info, go to safra.sg/promotions/shaw-theatres
A Haunting In Venice
Out in cinemas now (available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh
The great Hercule Poirot (Branagh), the Belgian detective who has solved a great many crimes, is invited to attend a seance. His friend, the mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver (Fey), wants him to discredit the psychic (Yeoh) who claims to be able to speak to the dead. However, the seance takes a fatal turn when one of the guests winds up murdered, and Poirot is faced with the prospect of the dead killing the living. He forbids the guests from leaving in order to solve the mystery, only to have his own life threatened.
The Creator
Out in cinemas 28 September (Available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Madeleine Yuna Voyles
In the future, artificial intelligence has advanced to the point where it threatens the survival of mankind. A decade-long war between humans and AI erupts after a nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles. At the turning point of the conflict, a soldier (Washington) is tasked with hunting down the “Creator” who had designed the AI, and is developing a new super weapon. What he finds is a sentient android that looks like an innocent child (Voyles), but one whose powers could determine the fate of humanity.
A Million Miles Away
Out now, Prime Video
Stars: Michael Pena, Rosa Salazar, Garret Dillahunt
Jose (Pena) has a dream, perhaps an impossible one. Growing up the son of migrant farmworkers, he wondered about man’s place among the stars, and watched telecasts of space missions in awe. After he embarks on a career as an engineer, he makes it his life’s goal to become an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, following rejection after rejection, it begins to feel like Jose’s dream is a million miles away. Until one day, his application gets a different answer.
The Worst of Evil
Out 27 September, Disney+
Stars: Ji Chang-wook, Wi Ha-joon, Im Se-mi
Policeman Park (Ji) takes on a special mission, after a potent new drug starts to flood into Seoul’s nightlife scene. The drug’s source seems to be a gang with a new leader, the ex-DJ Jung (Wi). In order to bring down the entire illicit operation, Park has to go undercover to infiltrate the gang and can tell no one, including his wife and fellow officer, Yu (Im), about his assignment. Things take a surprising turn when the undercover Park discovers that Yu is on the same mission, and may even have past links to Jung.
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