AFI Fest

It isn’t difficult to understand why the Weinstein Company has invested quite a bit of stock into its latest Oscar entry, Lion. After all, the film is a rather safe bet: the Garth Davis-helmed feature is yet another addition to the endless list of based-on-a-true-story dramas, following a young Indian boy as he finds himself in an impossible quest to return home after getting lost. Instead, he is inserted into an unfamiliar world with an adopted family all the way in Tasmania, only for him to long for the missing, unresolved pieces in the fabric of his identity. Despite adopting a formula that may seem all too familiar and predictable, Lion soars and somehow manages to feel special. http://www.cutprintfilm.com/reviews/lion/