"I Had Another Family. A Mother, A Brother. I Can Still See Their Faces..."
Arriving in the season of Oscar madness, Lion, the directorial debut from Gareth Davis, is the cinematic adaptation of Saroo Brierley's non-fiction book, "A Long Way Home", an autobiographical account of the extraordinary tale of the Indian-born Aussie, who after being separated from his family in Central India at a young age remarkably sets upon reuniting with his long-lost siblings after a staggering 25 years, resulting in the sort of movie you'd expect to be part of the many conversations regarding the upcoming Academy Awards, particularly regarding its' undeniably touching screenplay. Whilst Lion boasts a fundamentally humane and uplifting narrative basis, one which inevitably results in being an effective tear-jerking tale of the power of human nature, Davis' debut falls short of being a really excellent drama and instead settles for nothing more than being a solid adaptation of an interesting tale of one man's journey to rekindle his lost love.
With Dev Patel in the leading role, the links between Lion and Slumdog Millionaire are entirely obvious and unfortunately expected, particularly in regards to the two films' similar narratives, albeit one being entirely fictional and the other based upon true events. Furthermore, where Danny Boyle's movie succeeded is where Gareth Davis's ultimately falls flat, with the riveting and sharp feel of Slumdog being entirely absent within Lion, a film which takes way too long to actually get going and one which would have benefited from actually being at least twenty minutes shorter, particularly in its' plodding second act where the elder Saroo attempts to locate his lost family, a particular shame when regarding the strong opening portion of the movie in which we witness the younger Saroo's efforts of survival throughout the mass maze of Central India. With captivating performances from both Nicole Kidman and young newcomer Sunny Pawar, Lion seems to transcend an extraordinary tale from page to screen with some degree of success, yet its' moments of prolonged tedium in certain areas of the film leave you slightly underwhelmed come the closing credits.
