Review of Lion (2015) by Brandon W — 14 May 2017

Lion is directed by Garth Davis, and it stars Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, and Nicole Kidman in a biographical film about a Hindi kid that got separated from his brother at a very young age, and when he got himself in a new home with an Australia family, he never stopped thinking about it and wants to find his way back home to find his mother and brother.

This is the first movie out of all the Best Picture Nominations for 2016 where I got no knowledge from critics that I like watching, except for Brad Jones, but I didn't realize about it the day after I finished the film, and I haven't watch it, which I'll do this review first.

So for this movie, let's get on it. I was starting to realize why Dev Patel was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as half the film is about Saroo Brierley in his young age, and the movie starts to get interesting when he gets alone as it felt realistic, and you feel sorry for the kid already that you wonder about how he's going to go through this.

Sunny Pawar is great in it that I'm surprised this film is his debut as a child actor, and he gives off tons of emotional moments that will give a feel from the viewers. The writing by Luke Davies is well-written that connects the two stories very well, and understands about how Google Earth works.

The second half is just as good as the first act as Dev Patel gives a great performance as he was trying to be happy here, but still can't shake the fact about his past after meeting some Indian people, and Nicole Kidman is also pretty good that she even has her great acting moment that's close to the end.

The score by Hauschka and Dustin O'Halloran is very good that it sounded soothing and relaxing for the film. Critics say that the film is cliched, and I agree with them, but the way that the movie executed with a great story and has heart in it, felt like it's telling them for the first time.

Lion is a fantastic film that I was glad it got recognized that got me to see it.