Lion
2016
***½
Director: Garth Davis
Cast: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Abhishek Bharate, Divian Ladwa, Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Benjamin Rigby
In 1986, five-year-old Saroo lives with his mother, older brother, and baby sister in Khandwa, India. One day, he gets separated from his family and ends up thousands of miles away from home. In his directorial debut, Garth Davis chronicles Saroo's incredible true story in two distinct halves. The first half in India is engrossing and heartbreaking, and it features a wonderfully natural performance by Sunny Pawar. The syrupy second half is set in Australia some 20 years later, and it is less gripping, although Dev Patel is good as the grown-up version. Based on Saroo Brierley's 2013 non-fiction book A Long Way Home.
