In Lion, we are all aboard with our pint-sized stowaway.

Young Saroo (Pawar) is helpless in the unfamiliar sea of humanity at the train station in Calcutta and yet shows heaps of admirable resilience. He is able to navigate the rough streets and hurdle language barriers to hold onto our compassion with fervor. The kid is amazing.

Then, in a quite jarring temporal transition, a fully grown Saroo (Patel) emerges to carry the emotional baton for the duration. With the looming tendency to overact to attain the favor of an audience completely invested in the young version of himself, Patel was able to smooth the edges and deliver.

Sue (Kidman), Saroo’s adoptive mother, charges into the film conveying kindness and spirit and then heartache as Saroo becomes distant. Some of Lion’s most affecting moments are found within this dissolution, and subsequent affirmation, of the bond between Saroo and Sue.

The film only lags with the abruptness of Saroo’s search obsession and the blasè, yet consequential, love story with Lucy (Mara). Lion is intense and memorable, coming in at 4.43 napkins out of 5 which, according to Google Earth, lies just outside the radius of the Film Clas elite.