I am an avid film watcher. After every film I see for the first time, I write down a short review on a few cue cards I keep in an alphabetised order. Well, that’s what I AIM to do anyway, I definitely miss a few movies here and there! Due to nature of our studio (developing stories for the screen), I have recently been thinking a lot more about screenplays. I have always focused more on Directing, but since my interest was peaked  I have tried to tailor my reviews to analyse more of screenwriting. I decided to apply what I have learned about creating and presenting worlds with my thoughts regarding a movie I saw not too long ago, which was adapted from a non-fiction book titled A Long Way Home, written by the very protagonist of the story. In my review below, I discuss what elements of screenwriting I think worked, and what didn’t transcend as well as it could have. Of course I am no filmmaker (yet) and do not wish to discredit anyone who worked on the film, this is merely my personal observations and reactions which are completely subjective.

~Be warned, if you haven’t seen Lion there are potential spoilers ahead!~

Overview: Lion tells the true story of Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his family at age five in India, adopted by an Australian couple and eventually goes on a quest to find his real home twenty five years later. Although the story is gripping and incredible, the film (directed by Garth David and released as his directional debut) falls flat on its presentation and narrative structure. The first half of the film follows five years old Saroo (portrayed by the adorable and talented Sunny Pawar) and while this was important component of the story, the film seems to linger too long here which means that the next twenty five years of Saroo’s life are skimmed over.
Screenplay direction/narrative: The result is a second half of the movie in which we have an entirely new protagonist; older Saroo, who feels so jarringly different because we don’t have time to see his development. We fleetingly see Saroo as a flirty, charming young man before he quickly plunges into a doubting, brooding figure oblivious to the feelings of those around him. This, coupled with a painstakingly long scene comprising purely of close ups of Patel’s angsty face and drawn out screen recordings of Google Earth left me feeling out of the story. This disconnection from the emotion lasted a good while until suddenly Nicole Kidman was crying about a vision she had as a girl that “sent a bolt of lightning” through her and told her to adopt a “brown skinned boy”? It felt like a weird burst of emotion that was not properly explained after twenty minutes looking at a cursor scrolling the internet. We know the premise of the movie; boy gets lost, grows up curious and then goes on a quest to find his family years later. We know how the movie is going to end- he will find them or he wont. The only obstacle/event in between the character getting lost and reuniting with his loved ones is his decision to start looking for them, which is drawn out to make up a second act. Knowing all this makes the second half of the film seem like it is just treading water until we can reach that end goal.

Cinematography and world building: At the Academy Awards, Lion  missed out on picking up the Best Cinematography award that it fought so hard to procure. The effort put in by cinematographer Greig Fraser is particularly evident in the first half of the film, which is shot mostly from the perspective of a small child. The audience is shown Saroo’s point of view as he gets swept up in the masses, promoting viewers to a chaotic and anxious feeling we can all associate with being lost, but unimaginably worse. The world around him is so busy with itself that it forgets about him. Saroo learns that the world isn’t the one he knows- people will use and abuse him if he is not careful. The rules of this new world for Saroo are simple; every man for himself. As an audience we see Saroo learn this much to our relief, for his story could have gone in a terrible direction had he not.

A thought to end on: Although the film wasn’t as gripping as the story it was based on, it does end on a positive and hopeful note. The end credit encourages audiences to a make a difference in the lives of the 80,000 kids lost each year in India by heading to the “Lion movie” website where actor Dev Patel asks for funding for several India-based charities. The redeeming factor in the second half of Lion is seeing the real footage of Saroo reuniting with his birth mother set to an oscar nominated and tear inducing score.