By DANA BARBUTO More Content Now
The Oscar-roar emanating from “Lion,” a true tale of a young IndianAustralian adoptee using Google Earth to find his birth mother 25 years after being separated from her, is headscratching. The story defies belief but feels so contrived and obvious in the hands of first-time director Garth Davis. The only thing award-worthy is the performance of Sunny Pawar, who plays the young Indian boy. It’s love at first sight in the opening moments when we meet Saroo (Pawar) and his older brother, Guddu (a terrific Abhishek Bharate). Saroo quickly becomes lost at a train station, wakes up on an empty train running express to Calcutta. Pawar owns the first act, as the young Saroo fights for survival in the slums of Calcutta, where he doesn’t know the language or the direction home. Pawar conveys through his expressive almond-shaped brown eyes and body language all the fear and resiliency of a terrified and homesick 5-year-old boy who just wants his mum. These scenes with Saroo on the streets, sleeping on cardboard and eventually landing in an orphanage, are the film’s strongest. When an Australian couple played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham adopts him, the whole movie
“LION” STARRING: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara PLOT: A 5-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. RATED: PG-13 for thematic material and some sensuality RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 48minutes changes – not just in location. It feels like two different films, one gritty and one gauzy. Saroo grows up and is played by a beefed-up Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”) as a man stuck between two cultures. Rooney Mara (“Carol”) is trapped in the propup-your-man role as Saroo’s girlfriend. Patel, who was terrific earlier this year as a math genius in “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” is a prisoner of a second act padded with scenes of him moping, brooding, Googling and sticking colored push pins into the maps of India strewn about his tiny apartment. His obsession with finding his village soon takes a toll on Saroo’s relationship with his girlfriend and his adoptive parents, from whom he hides his search. As adoptive mom Sue Brierley, Kid-
In this image released by The Weinstein Company, Nicole Kidman and Sunny Pawar appear in a scene from “Lion.” AP photo
man gets to deliver a Big Speech (read: Oscar bait) about motherhood and family. It’s all rather trite and unaffecting and manipulative. Davis, working from a script by Luke Davies, adapting Saroo’s Brierly’s memoir, “The Long Way Home,” opts for melodrama in all forms – girlfriend problems, troubled siblings, contemplative walks on the beach, all set to a soundtrack that includes Sia’s “Never Give Up.” It’s heavy-handed for
sure. The filmmakers introduce themes of race, identity and class, then tosses them aside. The final scenes, when the action returns to India, can’t help but pack an emotional punch because it recalls that vastly superior first act when we fell in love with Saroo. However, your tears will dry quickly because this mangy “Lion” is nothing but a paper tiger.
“LA LA LAND”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 11:30 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 11:00 a.m., 12:20, 2:10, 3:30, 6:30 p.m.
Regal Cinemas – 12:40, 3:20, 6:40, 9:45 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 12:00, 2:20, 4:40, 7:00, 9:30 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 12:00, 2:20, 4:40, 7:00, 9:20 p.m.
“LION”
“PASSENGERS”
4:40, 7:20, 9:20 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:00 a.m., 12:00, 1:25, 2:25, 3:50, 4:50, 6:15, 7:15, 8:40, 9:40 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40 p.m. Regal Cinemas – Jan. 6-7: 2D: 12:10, 1:00, 3:00, 4:20, 6:00, 7:10, 11:05 p.m.; 3D: 11:10 a.m., 9:55 p.m.; Jan. 8: 2D: 11:15 a.m., 12:10, 1:00, 3:00, 4:20, 6:00, 7:10, 11:05 p.m.; 3D: 11:10 a.m., 9:55 p.m.
WEEKEND SHOWTIMES
The following are showtimes for Jan. 6-8 unless otherwise noted.
“ASSASSIN’S CREED”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 2D: 6:40, 9:30 p.m.; 3D: 4:00 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 10:55 p.m.
Regal Cinemas – Jan. 6: 12:35, 3:40, 6:50, 10:00 p.m.; Jan. 7: 3:40, 6:50, 10:00 p.m.; Jan. 8: 12:35, 6:00, 10:00 p.m.
“FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 6:40, 9:45 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 11:20 a.m., 2:30, 5:15, 8:50 p.m.
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 10:50 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:45, 10:30 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 2D: 2:00, 5:45, 7:00 p.m.; 3D: 9:40 p.m.
“FENCES”
“THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: NABUCCO”
“ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY”
“CAROUSEL 6Oth ANNIVERSARY” Regal Cinemas – Jan. 8 only: 2:00, 7:00 p.m.
Regal Cinemas – 12:30, 3:50, 7:30, 10:40 p.m.
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 10:45 a.m., 1:50, 3:00, 6:30, 9:55 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 12:55, 3:50, 6:45, 9:40 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 12:50, 4:00, 7:15, 10:45 p.m.
“HIDDEN FIGURES”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 10:30 a.m., 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 11:50 a.m., 2:50, 6:10, 9:10 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40 p.m.
“MANCHESTER BY THE SEA”
Regal Cinemas – Jan. 7 only: 11:55 a.m
“MOANA”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 10:40 a.m., 1:20, 4:00 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:40 a.m., 2:00, 4:20, 6:40 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 11:40 a.m., 2:00, 4:20, 6:40 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5:20, 8:10 p.m.
“A MONSTER CALLS”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 10:40 a.m., 1:40, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 p.m.
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 2D: 10:30, 11:40 a.m., 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 p.m.; 3D: 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:00 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 3:30, 4:30, 6:15, 7:15, 9:00, 10:00 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 11:00 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:00, 10:00 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 2D: 12:00, 1:05, 3:05, 4:10, 6:20, 7:20, 9:30, 10:30 p.m.; 3D: 11:30 a.m, 2:40, 5:50, 9:00 p.m.
“SING”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 11:20 a.m., 2:00,
“UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 2D: 11:00 a.m., 4:20 p.m.; 3D: 1:45, 7:00, 10:00 p.m. Regal Cinemas – Jan. 6-7: 1:50, 4:30, 8:30, 9:50 p.m.; Jan. 8: 1:50, 4:30, 8:30 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 11:00 a.m., 1:05, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:00, 9:40 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 11:00 a.m., 1:05, 3:10, 5:15, 7:30, 9:40 p.m.
“WHY HIM?”
AMC Lake in the Hills 12 – 2:30, 5:10, 7:50, 10:25 p.m. Classic Cinemas Carpentersville – 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40 p.m. Classic Cinemas Woodstock – 12:05, 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 9:45 p.m. Regal Cinemas – 11:15 a.m., 4:50, 8:00, 9:20 p.m.
| Pl@y | Thursday, January 5, 2017 • NWHerald.com
‘Lion’ tells the story of a lost boy
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