LION
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A contender for the Golden Globes, Lion is one of Australia's finest films in years. It's an extraordinary true story that, as with many such true stories, is one you wouldn't read about. Until you did.
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In the early 1970s, a young Indian slum kid was working train lines with his brother collecting coal. They were separated when Saroo was caught on an empty carriage and transported thousands of kilometres across the country. With no way of returning to his family, he lands in an orphanage then Tasmania when he's adopted by an Australian couple (David Wenham and a standout Nicole Kidman). Years later, with only faded memories and Google Earth to work from, the young man (Dev Patel) seeks to find his biological mother in the virtual haystack of train stations that might be his former home. Click search.
Lion is everything you'd hope it would be: engaging, inspiring and touching with just the right note of sentimentality. Great casting has gone a long way to elevate the story that, once it hits Australia, loses much of the exotic atmosphere that defines the first half. It's replaced with a fascinating character study of a young man's devotion to his mother, two mothers in fact, and the soul-searching that would define his adulthood. Patel is terrific to watch as he grasps the role with both hands (his near accent is near faultless – amazing work for the British born son of Kenyan Indians), and marks himself as a talent to watch if you weren't already.
Any concerns that the rousing finale with a 'here they are now' coda is emotional (it is) or mawkish (it isn't) are overcome by the production's commitment to Saroo Brierly’s fascinating story. What it loses by eschewing Danny Boyle style theatrics (this wisely avoids any echo of or nod to Slumdog Millionaire) it gains from a steadfast nature that approaches Saroo’s dilemma head on. The result is a gripping account of an extraordinary true story. One you wouldn't read about, until you did.
// COLIN FRASER
Previewed at Sony Theatre, Sydney on 13 December 2016.
Lion is everything you'd hope it would be: engaging, inspiring and touching with just the right note of sentimentality. Great casting has gone a long way to elevate the story that, once it hits Australia, loses much of the exotic atmosphere that defines the first half. It's replaced with a fascinating character study of a young man's devotion to his mother, two mothers in fact, and the soul-searching that would define his adulthood. Patel is terrific to watch as he grasps the role with both hands (his near accent is near faultless – amazing work for the British born son of Kenyan Indians), and marks himself as a talent to watch if you weren't already.
Any concerns that the rousing finale with a 'here they are now' coda is emotional (it is) or mawkish (it isn't) are overcome by the production's commitment to Saroo Brierly’s fascinating story. What it loses by eschewing Danny Boyle style theatrics (this wisely avoids any echo of or nod to Slumdog Millionaire) it gains from a steadfast nature that approaches Saroo’s dilemma head on. The result is a gripping account of an extraordinary true story. One you wouldn't read about, until you did.
// COLIN FRASER
Previewed at Sony Theatre, Sydney on 13 December 2016.
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STARRING
Dev Patel
Nicole Kidman
David Wenham
Rooney Mara
DIRECTOR
Garth Davis
SCREENWRITER
Luke Davis
Saroo Brierly
COUNTRY
Australia
CLASSIFICATION
PG
RUNTIME
118 minutes
AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
January 19, 2017
Dev Patel
Nicole Kidman
David Wenham
Rooney Mara
DIRECTOR
Garth Davis
SCREENWRITER
Luke Davis
Saroo Brierly
COUNTRY
Australia
CLASSIFICATION
PG
RUNTIME
118 minutes
AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
January 19, 2017
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