I
try to go to the movies as often as possible during winter break and
this year I did pretty well. With the exception of New Year's Day, I
saw a movie every day from Christmas until I went back to work. And
so, without further ado – I present part one of my 2016 holiday
movie fest.
Monday
12/16 – LION – Liberty Tree Mall – alone
I
was supposed to go see SING with my new favorite 5 year old, Logan
and some other people with whom he surrounds himself, but I didn't
get the message in time. Instead, I went to see LION a movie about a
5 year old who accidentally gets on a train and is taken thousands of
miles from his home where he lives on the streets until he is adopted
by the two nicest people in Tasmania. Then when he gets older he
decides to try to find the village of his childhood using Google
earth. The name he remembered isn't correct so he is going by visual
clues using math. It's pretty complex.
The
first section of the movie was terrifying! This little boy lost in the
world was heartbreaking. The only saving grace is that he didn't seem
to be aware of the danger he was in and he seemed to have tremendous
survival skills. I was able to rest easy (briefly) when Nicole Kidman
and a ruddy fellow adopted him. They were lovely! Not physically,
good grief, whoever was in charge of wigs for this movie should be
tortured. I know these characters were based on real people, but
historical accuracy shouldn't be this painful. Aside from the wigs,
though, the central part of the movie was lovely.
Dev
Patel who gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, is also a stone
cold fox. He has always had a pretty face, but good grief - his arms,
his hair, even with the requisite millennial scuffle on his face he
is still like a Tasmanian-accented angel. I'll stop, it's getting
weird. At the end of the middle section, he goes to hospitality school and meets
that girl who put Mark Zuckerberg in his place in the first
(magnificent) scene in THE SOCIAL NETWORK. It's Rooney Mara. What an
annoying name. She is an actress about whom I think, “meh...” And
yet, I can't remember a movie I have seen her in where she wasn't
wonderful. She always seems to play characters who are internal, but
in this movie she is a force of warmth. It isn't a showy part, but
she is lovely.
The
third section of the movie is the weakest. If you have ever seen a
movie in your entire life, it can not possibly come as a surprise
that he finds the village. (Or else why the movie?) It squoze the
tears out of me that it was looking for. (Well, that's not saying
much. Out of the 7 movies I saw this week, I only left one
tear-free.) I will not disclose what happens when he finds the
village. Just know that there is an emotional pay-off and you wont'
be disappointed.
I
would recommend this movie for anyone who has a decent attention
span, a high tolerance for bad wigs and no children between the ages
of 1 and 10. Seriously, if you have small children, you will have a
heart attack during the train scene. It was number 5 out of the 7
movies I saw and is nestled right on the border between I loved and I
liked a lot. I will give it 4/5 stars.
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