Nicole Kidman adoption film Lion hailed as a major Oscar contender after Toronto premiere

LION, a new movie starring Australia’s Nicole Kidman, is being touted as a serious Oscar contender by the critics after its premiere.

A NEW movie Lion, starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman, is being touted as a serious Oscar contender despite a mixed critical reception at the Toronto Film Festival.

Even underwhelmed critics have acknowledged Lion’s crowd-pleaser awards season appeal and its potential for resurrecting the ailing fortunes of The Weinstein Co.

“Lion is a film that’s been talked up a major contender, It’s easy to see why with a strong cast, international themes and an emotional true story,” wrote The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee.

Based on Saroo Brierley’s memoir, it tells the story of a five-year-old boy who is tragically separated from his family.

Adopted by an Australian couple (Kidman and David Wenham), he grows up in Tasmania. Twenty-five years later, Saroo locates his birth mother (Priyanka Bose) thanks to Google Earth.

According to Lee, the film struggles to expand “what’s ultimately a short story into a two-hour movie.”

But “regardless of complains, Lion is likely to strike a chord with many, including Oscar voters.”

Lion cast members Rooney Mara, Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and director Garth Davis in Toronto. Picture: Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press via AP

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney was more enthusiastic, describing the feature film debut of Davis, who co-directed the TV drama series Top Of the Lake with Jane Campion, as “enthralling”.

“Comparisons no doubt will be made with the film that launched Patel’s career, Slumdog Millionaire (which won eight Oscars in 2009). But that movie was an exhilarating, high-energy fairy tale, while Lion is something quite different — a sober and yet profoundly stirring contemplation of family, roots, identity and home, which engrosses throughout the course of its two-hour running time.”

Rooney particularly praised Kidman’s performance in “a deglamorised role that makes expert use of her emotional transparency.”

Nicole Kidman lets her fans take pictures with her at the premiere for the Australian/ American movie Lion at the Toronto International Film Festival. Picture: AFP / Geoff Robins

Variety’s Peter Debruge said the story was “ barely meaty enough to wrap the evening news, let alone sustain a two-hour feature.

“Fortunately for Davis, he’s got a terrific cast, chief among them the pair of charismatic actors who split the lead role: First, newcomer Sunny Pawar wins us over as 5-year-old Saroo, who’s so adorable he could set off an Indian adoption craze ... then Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel.”

Actor Dev Patel in the new film. Lion. Picture: Supplied

The trade magazine’s senior film and media reporter Brent Lang was less equivocal.

“(Lion) gives the indie distributor (Havey Weinstein) perhaps his best chance of awards glory this year.

“It’s uplifting, humanistic, and unabashedly sentimental, all things that Oscar voters love.”

Nicole Kidman and director Garth Davis share a laugh on stage at the Lion press conference at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Canada. Picture: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Lion opens in the US on November 25 and in Australia on January 19