![]() ![]() As he grows more disheveled and introverted, he’s infuriated and guilt-ridden by the privilege surrounding him and haunted by fleeting memories of his past, Patel delivers his most intricate performance since “Slumdog Millionaire,” to which “Lion” bears a notable comparison.īoth movies are based on true stories about Indian children from poor backgrounds who endure transformative experiences that catapult them to new worlds, but here Patel must convey a more complex transition - trapped between the desperation of his childhood and the sanctuary of his upper middle class adulthood, Saroo internalizes a complex process of confronting his true identity. Their underdeveloped romance epitomizes the listless quality of the narrative after it establishes Saroo’s newfound mission.īut even as it drags through a pedestrian middle section, “Lion” remains a cut above the kind of sturdy middlebrow drama its premise calls to mind by doubling down on Patel’s performance. It’s an exciting tale of loss and confusion until it falls into a series of familiar beats.Īs an ambitious young adult hoping to study hotel management, he quickly falls for a doe-eyed American student played by Rooney Mara, cast with a thankless part that calls for her to coach Saroo into confessing his desire to research his past. But the bigger problem is that “Lion” falls short of making much out of Brierley’s experiences once he arrives at the point where he hopes to find his way home. Kidman, in a handful of scenes that mostly call for her to smile lovingly at her new son, stands out so much that she distracts from the gritty realism preceding her arrival. These scenes are so engaging, in fact, that Saroo’s eventual salvation in the hands of his warm adopted parents Sue ( Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham) immediately slows down the story’s appeal. READ MORE: ‘Lion’ Trailer: Inspirational True Story Is The Weinstein Company’s Major Oscar Hopeful Shot by veteran cinematographer Greig Fraser (“Zero Dark Thirty”), “Lion” moves from a claustrophobic train car to crowded streets and dark tunnels as it builds a sense of desperation around young Saroo’s conundrum. ‘At the Gates’ Review: A Rich White Couple Hides Their Undocumented Housekeeper from ICE in a Threadbare Political Thriller Pawar has a naturalism that would feel at home in a classic neorealist drama, and Davis compliments that skill with a complex environment that follows the child through one perilous location to another. These scenes could anchor an entire movie on their own even without the 20-year time jump that follows them. ![]() ![]() In its first hour, Davis delivers a gripping account of young Brierley’s Homeric odyssey across India, during which time he’s played by extraordinary newcomer Sunny Pawar. Adapted from his book “A Long Way Home,” the movie features a sturdy Dev Patel as the intense young Saroo eager to reconnect with his roots, but the movie’s best moments precede his arrival. “ Lion,” the first feature directed by Garth Davis, sufficiently realizes the emotional arc built into Brieley’s experience. Some 25 years later, equipped with Google Earth and vague childhood memories, Brierley retraced his path and found his way back to his birth mother. He traveled close to 1,000 miles across his country, wound up in a shelter and eventually was adopted by an Australian couple. The story begs for the big screen: In 1986, five-year-old Saroo Brierley, the youngest member of a family in the impoverished Indian neighborhood of Khandwa, got stuck on a train. ![]()
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