Review of Lion (2015) by Matt D — 03 Feb 2017

Well acted and lovingly shot, 'Lion' is a lovely piece of work that pulls at the heartstrings and makes you want to adopt all of the lost children of India.

Is it entirely worthy of its place as a Best Picture nominee? I'm not entirely convinced. While I was head over heels in love with the first half of the film documenting the lost journey of little Saroo, I couldn't help but feel slightly underwhelmed by what came next. Naturally, I was overjoyed to see Saroo reunite with his mother all those years later but the path to that almost felt too simple to the point that I my initial reaction was "is that it?" when the credits started to roll.

The story has attempts at feeling more stuffed thanks to his on and off again relationship with a girlfriend and a troubled adopted brother, but none of that really hit home for me in a way that makes the journey to the end any more potent.

So while this is far from being a bad movie, it just doesn't fire on all cylinders once we reach Saroo's adulthood.