Lion

After a filmography of commercials and miniseries, including the Emmy-nominated Top of the Lake, director Garth Davis made his feature film debut in Lion. The film version of Saroo Brierley's memoir A Long Way Home is a genuine crowd pleaser.

In 1986, Saroo (Sunny Pawar) and his brother, Guddu (Abhisek Bharate), live in Ganesh Talai, Khandwa, India. They scavenge from trains to support their family. One night, Saroo accompanies Guddu to a train station. Guddu leaves him on a bench and doesn't return. So Saroo heads for an empty train and eventually takes a nap. He wakes up to find himself on a one-way trip to Calcutta.

Since he knows neither his hometown's actual pronunciation nor Bengali, Calcutta's language, Saroo is lost. A good stranger helps him to an orphanage. He's eventually adopted by the Brierleys, Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham), from Tasmania. Twenty years later, Saroo (Dev Patel) heads for college in Melbourne. He tells his new friends of his history and they tell him about Google Earth. He soon uses it to trace his way back home. But what about the home he's already made?

Luke Davies' screenplay unfolds over 121 minutes. Its plot is slow while its story is compelling. How so? It takes an hour or so before Saroo appears as an adult. We see his endearing relationship with Guddu and their nightmarish separation. We empathize as he finds himself lost in an unfamiliar and mostly-uncaring city. Eventually, we get to his time with the Brierleys, his strained relationship with his emotionally unstable adopted brother, Mantosh (Divian Ladwa and Keshav Jadhav), and then, his Google Earth quest.

The film has a good cast. Pawar's young Saroo is an impressionable, likable character. Patel's adult Saroo is fine playing a tormented soul. Kidman is good as is Rooney Mara as Saroo's girlfriend, Lucy. Priyanka Bose was great as Saroo's birth mother, Kamla. Meanwhile, the two actors playing Mantosh, were good, though the character's last scene wasn't dramatically satisfying.

There's another fine technical crew here. Cinematographer Greig Fraser provides excellent landscape shots and alluring city scenes. Together with editor Alexandre de Franceschi, he captures the busyness of Calcutta. The score, by Hauschka and Dustin O'Halloran, is emotive without being melodramatic. They should have pride in their accomplishments here.

Lion maybe slow, but its ending is satisfying. It ends well even if it's not a complete happy ending. But at least it ends on a strong note after a long odyssey. It surely deserves whatever praise comes its way.