A Tale of Two Movies (In One)

Rating: 6/10 (17 November 2018)

Whilst as an Australian, I am pleased to see Lion was such a domestic and international commercial success, honesty behooves me in suggesting that it is one of the most over rated films I've seen in quite awhile.
The first half (and with its chronologically linear structure, this is indeed a film of two distinct halves) featuring the remarkable talents of Sunny Pawar as young Saroo Brierley is brilliantly structured by debuting director Garth Davis . It's full of pathos, suspense and drama, set against a richly involving Northern Indian backdrop of both realistic rural and urban locations. The little dialogue spoken through this portion of the film is Hindi, which is entirely appropriate, as we witness the fateful occurrences which lead Saroo to be separated from his family and in due course find the boy adopted by an Australian couple from the island state of Tasmania.
Greig Fraser's cinematography, as it did in the Indian first half, portrays the natural beauty of both the Tasmanian countryside and its charming capital city, Hobart, both rarely seen in contemporary Australian films. However through no fault of the actors, whose performances are never less than highly competent, it is here where the story begins to slow and then grind to its inevitable conclusion. The problem is the drama as we begin to see is relatively light weight. Boy separated from his natural family, a world away, wants, at the very least, a few answers. Arguably, in times such as they are, characterised by a high degree of international trans-migration, this is likely to be a common source of teenage angst. The suspense and unpredictable nature of the film's first half becomes lost amidst an atmosphere of one man's increasingly high anxiety.
Davis and screen writer Luke Davies attempt to compensate by dialing up the human drama surrounding the adult Saroo, played very impressively by Dev Patel, whose Australian accent is surprisingly authentic. Saroo has a loose cannon adopted brother. Saroo has a supportive girl friend, with whom he breaks up and later with whom he reacquaints (Rooney Mara, who really isn't given much scope to show her acting chops here). Saroo has loving adoptive parents (David Wenham and Nicole Kidman) who also only wish the best for him. (One feels in particular, that Kidman's role as his mother Sue is clearly padded out, as arguably befitting her international star status.) All well and good, but on a dramatic level not unlike an episode of The Young and the Restless.
Rarely have I seen a film of two such contrasting halves in terms of dramatic content and cinematic quality. Lion received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, but did not win in any of the categories. Poetic justice in my opinion. Ultimately, it didn't deserve any.