LION, the meaning of which is not revealed until the film’s closing moments is sometimes remarkable. There’s no denying this true story is remarkable. The script is punchy and well-judged, with very strong work from Dev Patel, and especially newcomer Sunny Pawar (for some reason only Patel seemed to get nominations despite probably not being on screen as Saroo for any longer). But annoyingly, this is very standard storytelling for such a miraculous life story. The odds of lost boy Saroo not only surviving childhood poverty and being separated by hundreds, then thousands, of miles from his family, then finally succeeding in finding his mother in adulthood (not a spoiler, it’s a true story) demands something more special. I think we’re past chronological biopics, and Nicole Kidman, well she’s just Nicole Kidman with different hair. I challenge you not to shed a tear at the final real footage they insert at the beginning of the credits, – having this cap off the film makes it all worth it. SSP