Lion

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2017)

Lion is the best Google commercial I have seen. Leaving that aside, director Garth Davis drives the first hour of the film in quite an efficient way, making us share the fear and confusion of the kid Saroo, far from his home and overwhelmed by the chaotic environment of the big city, in which every kind of dangers are lurking at every corner... even from individuals trying to help him. That was the part of Lion I liked the most, because it evokes powerful emotions without the typical "creative manipulation" employed by many films to accentuate the drama. Lion doesn't need those tricks... for its first hour only. Then, we jump 20 years to the future, and the film loses the honesty which had previously captured me. That doesn't mean that the second half is bad; but I personally found it manipulative and occasionally forced and cloying. Nevertheless, the performances from Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara and David Wenham (who all show up during that part) are very good. However, that second half can never recover the energy and raw realism of the first hour, both obtained due to Davis' direction and the brilliant performance from Sunny Pawar, and that avoided the experience from being totally satisfactory in my case, even though I can give it a moderate recommendation.