LION revels in the latter, making it what I like to call an Onion Cutter movie. This term was inspired by others, but here’s my definition:

— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) January 22, 2017

hindering their other, more significant artistic goals. Tears cannot be a measure of artistic quality because it’s easy to make someone cry

— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) January 22, 2017

Onion Cutter tears overly rely on audiences PITYING the characters’ universally resonant emotional plights (the quality of the execution has

— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) January 22, 2017

Superior approaches strive for EMPATHY-induced tears through making the audience understand these universal emotional plights in new ways

— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) January 22, 2017

The strong cast (Kidman!) tries to provide these insights, but they can’t overcome the onion cutting around them (that DGA nom is a joke).

— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) January 22, 2017