LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Film Clips


Dev Patel deserves his Academy Award nomination for "Lion." Photo provided

"Lion" may be the most overlooked movie of 2016. It recently received six Oscar Nominations, including Best Picture but not many people have seen this amazing film. "Lion" is a long-shot at winning the Oscar for Best Picture but I would say it is the front-runner to win Best Cinematography. The opening scenes draw you into this true story and set the emotional roller coaster ride.

A 5-year-old boy, Saroo gets lost on a train in India and then travels miles across India away from his family. The young child lives alone and survives on the streets of Kolkata. Saroo is fortunate to be adopted by an Australian couple and they provide him a loving home. Twenty-five years later, through the use of Google Earth, Saroo uses the few memories he possesses to search for his lost family. Can contemporary technology and countless determination allow him to achieve his goal and reunite with his birth family?

Dev Patel (Saroo) and Nicole Kidman (Sue Brierley, his adopted mother) both deserve their Best Supporting Actor nominations. You will recognize Patel from the 2008 Oscar-winning film, "Slumdog Millionaire," which won eight Oscars in 2008. Patel's performance is as solid as Kidman's but in this year's Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories they have some tough competition with Viola Davis ("Fences") and Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight"), who are the front-runners.

Don't miss "Lion" on the big screen at the Orinda Theatre. The cinematography is spectacular and is only beautifully enhanced by the movie theater experience. The film has a TRT (Total Running Time) of 1 hour and 58 minutes and is rated PG-13, for thematic material and some sensuality.

Other Oscar nominated films currently at the Lamorinda Theatres are "LA LA Land" (14 nominations) and "Moonlight" (eight nominations) at the Orinda Theatre and "Hidden Figures" (three nominations), Jackie (three nominations) and "Manchester By The Sea" (six nominations) at the Rheem. So there are many opportunities to enjoy the numerous films hoping for Oscar gold on Sunday, February 26, right in our great Lamorinda community.