Review of Lion (2015) by Ben L — 25 Feb 2017

In a year where I was told so many of the Best Picture nominees were difficult emotional journeys, Lion is the first one to really deliver on that for me. I cried at least 5 times while watching this movie. It hit so many emotional notes brilliantly. I was crying out of sadness with the characters, and out of joy. I could see someone saying that the story was designed in such a way to make it emotionally manipulative, but because it was based on a true story and was filled with honest performances it worked for me.

The first half of Lion is superb, and I absolutely loved little Sunny Pawar. He gave a tremendous performance, with nuance beyond his years. The whole film would fall apart if he didn't make us care about Saroo, but he nails it. He's completely adorable and I think I could watch him do his little run all day long. Abhishek Bharate was also excellent as the older brother, Guddu. The connection between these two boys lies at the heart of this whole film, even beyond the connection between Saroo and his mother.

The second half of Lion is good, but doesn't quite live up to the potential of what was set up. Dev Patel is great and he has some strong moments that connect us perfectly to the Saroo that we met at the beginning. The flaw for me in the second half is that there are several moments where the plot stagnates. It feels like the wheels are spinning and I'm just desperately waiting for the inevitable conclusion. In fact it almost seemed like Rooney Mara's character was voicing my own frustration. Luckily, sprinkled throughout this section of the film are some powerful scenes. Nicole Kidman gets a couple of them and I can see why she got a Supporting Actress nomination.

The end of this film, without delving into spoilers, was exactly what I was looking for and yet also not what I wanted. That's not to say it was done poorly, or that it was a disappointment, there was simply a bittersweet feeling to the end. I can't say much more than that. I didn't know what to expect, because I did not know anything about the true story before seeing the film, and I think that's a great way to go in because I genuinely didn't know how it would end. Lion might not be the best film of the year, but I thought it was well made and delivered a marvelous story.