Review of Lion (2016) by Nerdconsultant — 20 Feb 2017

. The best way to describe it is that it’s an extraordinary true story of a lost child in India, who, after being adopted by Australian parents, yearns to learn where he came from. He remembers that he fell asleep on a train after being separated from his brother, however, the place where he came from doesn’t exist, according to everyone who he talks to and he searches heavily to find his way home.

My description hasn’t really done the story justice, but I didn’t want to go into too much detail since I think it’s best to go in an experience it yourself. The film has an extraordinary first half which feels really organic and really gives the story what it deserves.

The second half doesn’t quite match up to that and becomes very ‘Oscar baity’ for a lack of a better term. It does feel like Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman are aiming for those Oscar nominations.

They are very good performances and I don’t object to them getting an Oscar nomination, but you know those performances, where you can feel it’s the award season. It’s a very good story and if you don’t want to see the film or the trailer doesn’t appeal to you I would recommend picking up the book, written by the actual person who the film is based on which tells of his story, however, I will not give away the title for this book, since just looking up the title, actually gives away the films ending.

I liked Lion, but I think it could have been better. I would say give it a chance, I suspect I am being just a bit too critical of it.