Whether fair or not, Lion being distributed by the Weinstein Company carries with it a certain expectation. Again, fair or not, Lion will be labled as “Oscar bait” because of the reputation of the Weinstein brothers, two titans of the industry who specialize in running awards campaigns. Gone are the 90’s days of Miramax, where they journeyed far with wiley, difficult pictures like Pulp Fiction and Sling Blade. Now, not only are they only banking on sure things, they seem only interested in films that promote a certain kind of nobility and moral clarity. Lion fits the bill in 2016. In 2014, they put their money on an all-star cast in the film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ melodrama August: Osage County. That film underperformed, so this time around the Weinsteins are opting for cultural sentimentality. Lion is based on the memoir by Saroo Brierley, titled A Long Way Home, which charts the extraordinary story of a young man hoping to find his mother and brother after being separated from them for twenty-five years. This is powerful, life-affirming stuff, but why did the film leave me so cold?

The film is directed by Garth Davis, an award-winning commercial director who also directed four episodes from the stunning New Zealand mini-series Top of the Lake before making his feature debut with Lion. This is far from a debut to be disappointed in. With cinematographer Greig Fraser, Davis has made a handsome film, but – especially considering the severity of the story – I had so much trouble finding any of it compelling. The screenplay is written by Luke Davies, who tracks the story of Saroo in a very strict chronological order. As a young boy, Saroo (Sunny Pawar), was a feisty but sweet child, who helped his laborer mother (Priyanka Bose) and played with his older brother, Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) in a small village in India. While joining Guddu on a search for work out of town, Saroo boards a train that ends up travelling to Calcutta, filled with people who cannot help him get home and do not speak his language. Living on his wits, the young Saroo eventually ends up in a state-run orphanage before being adopted by an Australian couple in Tasmania. His new father John (David Wenham) and mother Sue (Nicole Kidman) warmly ingratiate him into their lives and culture.

After twenty-five years, Saroo is suddenly struck with memories and feelings that he cannot avoid. He’s contaminated by the thought of his mother and Guddu desperately trying to find him decades later, and riddled with guilt at the life of privilege that he’s been able to lead. He worries what this urge will do to Sue, a kind woman who is already emotionally fragile because Saroo’s adopted brother, Mantosh (Divian Ladwa), who came from the same background but had much more trouble adjusting throughout his life. His American girlfriend, Lucy (Rooney Mara), sympathizes with his plight, but becomes besodden as Saroo’s search begins to consume more and more of his daily life. Using google Earth, Saroo tries to map out a radius of where his village might be. The stretch of land is impossibly large, the number of train stations in India leading well into the thousands. But Saroo cannot give up, with every second of his existence now pointing only to his new obsession: finding his mother and brother, and showing them that he is okay.

I understand what Davis is doing here, and it’s a shame that many awards season pundits may diminish this film. The movie is mediocre on its own merit, not because it’s courting awards. This is a tremendous story, but Davis and Davies’ screenplay doesn’t put much faith in the audience’s understanding of the story and its characters. Every moment seems too choreographed, every outcome telegraphed. The film’s strict chronological order only postpones a reunion we all know is inevitable because why else are these movies made? There’s value to be found in this kind of story, and not every film need rely on suspense to be effective. The film’s conclusion is perhaps its best, most heart-wrenching moment, and I almost resented the film for making me wait two hours to get there. Patel and Kidman are both doing good work here, expressing the two characters’ complicated feelings toward one another and translating the limits of parentage, but the truth is that Brierley’s story is incredibly interesting, while Lion very much is not.

 

Directed by Garth Davis