Lion

This review may contain spoilers!

This film wasn't half bad till it hit the Australian aspect of the film, from there it was next to impossible to remain engaged with the film. I would give Lion a 5.5/10.

The way this film opens with a focus on Saroo as a young child and his relationship with his family is a very strong aspect of the feature, he has a loyalty and a drive to provide that is really sincere to watch. This only serves to make it all the more horrifying as Saroo accidentally falls asleep on a train and finds himself propelled to Calcutta (1600 kilometres from home); on the streets of Calcutta you find yourself in suspense as Saroo has to navigate child abductors, pedophiles and a pretty terrifying approximation of an orphanage/juvenile institution. The ending for Lion is very impactful and goes a long way towards redeeming the last hour of the film, the reunion between Saroo and his mother is a pure moment of joy. The score for this film is absolutely brilliant, it really underlines the heavy emotional points of the film while at the same time celebrates and incorporates Indian music.

Abhishek Bharate, who played Guddu, is a very charismatic brotherly figure who has a great relationship with Pawar in this film; I appreciated how Bharate showed the burden his role felt in regards to having to provide for his family. Priyanka Bose, who played Kamla, is such a bright light in this film; her unwavering optimism towards her children even in the eyes of such great poverty is great to see. Riddhi Sen, who played Cafe Man, is only a minor role yet shares a really nice heartfelt exchange with Pawar; Sen creates a moment of compassion that will really resonate with audiences. Dev Patel, who played Saroo Brierley, really captures the protagonist well in his years of maturity; he manages to create a fun and witty persona at first who becomes overshadowed by a consuming drive to find his Indian family. Divian Ladwa, who played Mantosh Brierley, creates a disgruntled and bleak role that weighs heavily upon the Brierley family dynamic; I was really moved by how Ladwa depicted his role's mental illness as I thought that it allowed a perspective on the challenges of recognising and treating mental illness in India. Sachin Joab, who played Bharat, was only a fleeting appearance in this film but one who left quite a mark; his compassion for Patel's role and immediate outlook on how to solve the problem was very well delivered.

However the best performance came from Sunny Pawar, who played Young Saroo. In amongst a cast of brilliant Indian talent is this young child actor who blows each and every one of them out of the water. Pawar is the perfect protagonist for this film, it's easy to see how he beat out 2000 other auditions for the part. I really loved the energy this kid brought with him to scenes, he could turn a scene very light very quick if needed. He also displayed fear and anxiety rather well, particularly in the face of child abductors or when he discovers that he's locked upon the train. Pawar is a cute kid which goes a long way for him but don't be fooled by looks alone, this kid has a lot of commendable acting talent.

This film sometimes feels like you are experiencing Saroo's journey rather than watching and being allowed to understand it; the film is very quick to send it's young protagonist hurtling off to Calcutta without really analysing Saroo's family life or home life in any great detail. This continues from event to event as Saroo moves quickly between quite similar dangerous encounters, this repetitive storytelling feels dull and robs the film of it's potential. Then the action moves to Australia and the pacing slows right down to a crawl, it was clearly hard for the writer to stretch a search on Google Earth into about an hour's worth of content. Add to the mix the very highly strung Brierley parents and Saroo's on-again off-again girlfriend, Lucy, and you have a film that fell pretty flat. The cinematography teases you with some absolutely beautiful establishing shots; sadly this is about as close as we get to a nice visual style as everything from there on out looks washed out and the close ups are hideously handled. The editing is another poor quality of the film, the constant use of fades as transitions felt taxing and only added to that sense of repetitiveness.

Tannishtha Chatterjee, who played Noor, was all over the place in regards to her range; I found Chatterjee's sudden shift to an antagonist role a bit poorly handled. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who played Rawa, was just a really off colour antagonist for this film; I didn't really get what Siddiqui's motivations were and you just wound up with a creepy scene with very little context. Rita Boy, who played Amita, had a lot of potential in this film but was seriously underused; it would have been nice to see Boy form some sort of attachment or bond with Pawar rather than just guide the film's exposition. Deepti Naval, who played Mrs Sood, was quite a bland performance; I found Naval's stiff demeanour to really have the opposite to the desired effect for her character. David Wenham, who played John Brierley, had next to no screen presence in this film; Wenham was really only memorable for saying 'mate' about eighty times and contributed little else. Nicole Kidman, who played Sue Brierley, felt more serial killer than maternal figure in this film; when Kidman gave her big speech about having visions I felt my eyes slowly role into the back of my head at the sheer ludicrous nature of the entire scene and performance. Rooney Mara, who played Lucy, was a really weak attempt to fill in time by giving Saroo a love interest; I think this would have worked to the film's favour if the role wasn't so flippant and Mara didn't have such a blatant lack of chemistry with Patel.