I'm not sure when it was said this summer, but Harvey Weinstein gave us a warning about Garth Davis' "Lion" possibly becoming a major contender. Of course, this is Harvey Weinstein. He owns the movie. I do fear he is stuck in the 90s and aughts mindset of what an Oscat contender looks like. These kind of prestigious, lesson-learned, self-discovery epics have not aged well at all. Weinstein practically invented the genre of Oscar bait 101, that is until people caught on and realized it was pure sugar coated emptiness. That was near the tailend of Miramax's days, but lest us we forget that Weinstein is part of the reason why Indie cinema boomed in the early 90s: "The Grifters," "Reservoir Dogs," "The Piano," "The Crying Game," "Clerks," "Pulp Fiction among many others.
Anyway, Harvey thinks you should watch this. It doesn't look very good, but it does look a lot like "Slumdog Millionaire", the kind of tale that could possibly have audiences cheering in their seats and Academy dilpickles voting for it. Never has Google Maps figured this prominently in a big-budget studio movie. Great product placement though.
Here’s the official synopsis:
"Five-year-old Saroo finds himself alone and travelling on the wrong train away from his home in northern India. Frightened and bewildered, he ends up thousands of miles away, in chaotic Kolkata. Somehow he survives living on the streets, dodging all sorts of terrors in the process. Eventually ending up in an orphanage, Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple, and finds safety and love as he grows up in Hobart. Not wanting to hurt his adoptive parents’ feelings, he buries his past, his emotional need for reunification and his hope of ever finding his lost mother and brother. But a chance meeting with some fellow Indians reawakens his secret yearnings. With just a small store of memories, and the help of some newly-developed satellite-imaging technology, Saroo embarks on one of the greatest needle-in-a-haystack quests of modern times."
Anyway, Harvey thinks you should watch this. It doesn't look very good, but it does look a lot like "Slumdog Millionaire", the kind of tale that could possibly have audiences cheering in their seats and Academy dilpickles voting for it. Never has Google Maps figured this prominently in a big-budget studio movie. Great product placement though.
Here’s the official synopsis:
"Five-year-old Saroo finds himself alone and travelling on the wrong train away from his home in northern India. Frightened and bewildered, he ends up thousands of miles away, in chaotic Kolkata. Somehow he survives living on the streets, dodging all sorts of terrors in the process. Eventually ending up in an orphanage, Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple, and finds safety and love as he grows up in Hobart. Not wanting to hurt his adoptive parents’ feelings, he buries his past, his emotional need for reunification and his hope of ever finding his lost mother and brother. But a chance meeting with some fellow Indians reawakens his secret yearnings. With just a small store of memories, and the help of some newly-developed satellite-imaging technology, Saroo embarks on one of the greatest needle-in-a-haystack quests of modern times."