Lion 2016
I remember Lion getting a lot of Oscar attention in 2017, but didn’t know much about it and never saw it. This month it was available free on Vudu with ads, which usually aren’t that bad. Plus towards the end of the month they quietly have a day where you if you watch one of the free titles with ads that is about to leave, they will give you a $2 credit. Like most months, the choices really aren’t bad. While usually I try to pick something short or something light, maybe that I’ve seen before, so I can watch it or do other things while it plays. But this was a movie I wanted to see, nominated for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actresss.
At least half of the movie is about a little boy in India who gets lost on the other side of India from his home. Neither he nor the police can figure out where he is from and he is eventually adopted by a family in Australia. As an adult he tries to find where he came from based on vague memories and Google Earth. While the story is interesting and the little kid is very cute, the part as an adult seems to add a lot of anguish when at that point you just kind of want things to wrap up. It is based on a true story written by the main character in the movie. It is a little hard to care as much for the grown up who has been given a pretty good life, but still has a big hole, which is not expressed as well as maybe it could have or should have been, but maybe that is how things really happened. It is a nice movie with an interesting, mostly true story and a few very strong acting scenes.
Written: 28 May 2020