FilmSnobReviews

Title: Lion
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Garth Davis
Starring: Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

What It Is: When young Saroo (Pawar) was but 5 years of age he and his older brother got lost in a train station. Stuck traveling over 1600 miles from home the poor little boy is lost. When he is taken in by a loving Australian family. It is here under the supervision of his new mother Sue (Kidman) and father John (David Wenham). As he gets older he begins to wonder about his childhood. Now some 25 years later he is determined to find out who he was in a life that seems as though he never lived it.

What We Think: It is a family in which the ending is not disputed. You know exactly where this journey is headed. Nonetheless, it captivated me. Sunny Pawar is great in his time in the film and Dev Patel is stellar. In fact, all the acting is there. This is a great film. There are few issues, fundamentally you could complain about the editing, which isn’t perfect but good enough. Maybe Garth Davis’ is not tight enough? I definitely did not like the manipulation of the screenplay. That peeved me a bit, but outside of that, this is a good film.

Our Grade: B+, Shoutout to Nicole Kidman for breaking hearts everywhere. She earned an Oscar nomination. This was a lot better than I anticipated this film would be. I was expecting your standard Oscar-bait Based on a True Story snoozer. This was certainly not that and for that I am thankful. Instead, we get a heart string piano of a film that is note perfect throughout its deceptively short runtime. My only recommendation here would be that you see this film wherever it is playing near you.