Lion missed on interesting motifs...

Lion missed on so many interesting motifs and went for the underwhelming one

Root seeking is an age old motif, but it does not guarantee a boring movie. Countless film makers managed to tell fascinating stories based on centuries old motifs. Lion, unfortunately, does not seem to be one of them.

Lion's execution of the root seeking story is underwhelming. It tried to hit on many things at the same time, yet fails to make a success of any of them. What I can see is a director trying to making a touching, commercial hit of root seeking while preserving the critic-welcoming elements of identity struggles, immigrants in white western communities, the personal journey of being adopted kids etc etc. Yet none of them came out clear, touching or well developed.

That is what I really lament about this movie: it could have been so much better. Asian kids adopted and brought up in white families is a rarely exploited theme in cinema. It has so much to explore, so much to offer and so much to reflect on: should your identity be Indian or Australian? How do you balance your biological mom and your real mom? What were you really trying to find when it comes to root seeking? And probably most interestingly, what's next after the root is found? Each of this topic could have made great movies. Lion has fallen short of making good of any of them.

One thing to take away from the movie: Dev Patel has grown into a freaking hot supermodel. Movie would've been better if he stays half naked for a few more minutes.