Lion review: The Weinstein Company-backed true story finally makes it into UK cinemas, but is it worth the journey?
Read our Lion review below.
There is a plethora of films now playing, or about to play at movie theaters which will remain as some of the best we will have seen all year – trust me. This fraternity of greats of 2017 include A Monster Calls, La La Land, Manchester By The Sea, and next month’s Moonlight, all emotional journeys that tug at the heart-strings all in very different ways, from the opening frames until the end credits. Joining them is Lion, commercials and TV director Garth Davis‘ debut feature.
Based on a true story, brought to the screen by Luke Davis (Life), the story follows Saroo (Sunny Pawar), a five-year-old Indian boy, who, after loosing sight of his older brother, gets lost on the busy streets of Calcutta thousands of miles from home. Saroo is soon picked up by the social services, and is adopted by Australian couple John and Sue Brierly (David Wenham and Nicole Kidman), and taken to their homeland to start a new life. Fast-forward 25 years later, and the now fully-grown Saroo (now played by Dev Patel), moves to Melbourne and to university there to study hotel management. There he meets Lucy (Rooney Mara), and almost immediately falls in love. However, Saroo cannot get thoughts of his real family our of his head, and uses the latest technology (Google Earth) to try and piece together the tiny details of his origins from his memory in an attempt to find where he really comes from, and hopefully find his long-lost family.
Lion opened to festival audiences towards the tail end of last year to rapturous applause and instant plaudits, notable for Patel and the rest of the cast’s performance, as well as the stunning photography of Greig Fraser (Foxcatcher, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and the brilliant direction from Davis – and rightly so. Lion is an engrossing as any film you’ll see this year, including the ones that I’ve already mentioned, and while it hasn’t had as big a profile in terms of awards nods, it certainly deserves them.
As well as the acting prowess of Patel, Kidman, Wenham, Rooney et al, which we’d expect to be of a certain calibre, a very big nod must go to the young Sunny Pawar, who at just eight-years-old steals the show. As well as delivering a powerful, heart-breaking performance, Pawar has to carry the first third of the film almost completely on his own. The absorbing story and solid script provide a great platform for the film to have a chance of working, but Pawar’s performance, almost reminiscent of Jacob Tremblay’s career-making turn in Room just a year ago, tops off proceedings, and the actor almost completely overshadows Patel – and everyone else.
For an ambitious story, Davis and co. manage to cram everything in to a touch over two hours. That said, there is a point midway through where the proceedings do start to plod, and one could have been tempted, and maybe forgiven to look down at their watch. The film does quickly redeem itself, and it’s rewarding and not at all overly sentimental ending will have you reaching for those trusty tissues once again.
This one is highly recommended.
Lion review by Paul Heath, January 2017.
Lion is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20th January 2017.
