Lion (2016)
2016
118 Minutes
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he set...
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: Outside of it's amazing cinematography and score - Lion's true story is probably its greatest strength, as it's frankly amazing to consider the journey of this young man and how desperate he must feel. That's particularly the case in the first hour, which is pretty gripping and despairing stuff, but also towards the end. You're only so pained to see all this unfold though because the lead feels so real, and that's thanks to two great performances from both Dev Patel, and his younger counterpart Sunny Pawar.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: What stops Lion from becoming a really memorable or heart-breaking experience is that it leaves you in the same emotional territory for too long; despair. Sure it's a very desperate story so it should to some extent, but I never truly felt upset or emotionally invested because it's constantly asking the same question and delivering the same emotional response. This makes the whole film feel very slow-paced too, even if it's not actually slow at all.
VERDICT: An amazing story told through the eyes of amazing actors isn't always enough to truly engage. Lion is a "highway-to-the-end" kind of movie where there's very few question asked, and only one answer given.1 member likes this review.
