Synopsis
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
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Cast
- Dev PatelSaroo Brierley
- Rooney MaraLucy
- David WenhamJohn Brierley
- Nicole KidmanSue Brierley
- Abhishek BharateGuddu
- Divian LadwaMantosh Brierley
- Priyanka BoseKamla Munshi
- Deepti NavalSaroj Sood
- Tannishtha ChatterjeeNoor
- Nawazuddin SiddiquiRama
Recommendations
- 90
The Hollywood Reporter
A sober and yet profoundly stirring contemplation of family, roots, identity and home, which engrosses throughout the course of its two-hour running time. - 80
Screen Daily
If Saroo’s story seems out-of-this world, the team behind this film have risen to meet the challenge it sets. There may be a sense of inevitability about Saroo’s ultimate destination, but what counts here is the journey. - 80
The Telegraph
The script never lunges for cheap drama by forcing Saroo into a binary choice between mothers, and the most complex beats are about tip-toeing around, often counter-productively, to avoid hurt or betrayal. - 75
IndieWire
Lion, the first feature directed by Garth Davis, sufficiently realizes the emotional arc built into Brieley’s experience. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Where Saroo goes and what he finds there left me in tears, but you feel that a complicated true story has been airbrushed into a postmodern legend. - 60
The Guardian
Thanks largely to an affecting performance from newcomer Sunny Pawar, the first act is horribly effective. - 60
Time Out London
There’s plenty of warmth and compassion here, and the true story is a belter, but this ‘Lion’ doesn’t quite roar. - 58
The Film Stage
If the first half is an indelible treat and gives one high hopes that a film delicately placed in the awards season will in fact meet its steep expectations, the second half is troublesome and falls flat.
