yrussell Review of Lions for Breakfast

Lions for Breakfast (1975)

Charming tale about the meaning of home

[10/10 · 25 September 2020]

I love the eccentricity of this film. Filmed in Canada in the 1970s, it shows life in a bygone era - amongst people who are living on the fringes of society, on the verge of being homeless. What a lot of people did back then was to hit the open road, seeking a new life elsewhere on the continent - but with only a vague idea of the destination and what they will do when they get there. Some other reviewers complained that this film feels "aimless" but they are missing the point. This film perfectly captures the feeling on being on the road without knowing what the future holds. It is a slow-paced film, and all the better for it! Two orphan brothers (one adult, one child) run away, separately, from their accommodation in a nameless town (a town where there is no family, only a landlady who is indifferent to them, at best). By chance, the younger one meets an old man, self-described as "Count Ivan Stroganoff", who is a little bit crazy, and has himself been wandering the open road for decades. Yet, Count Ivan has a big and honourable heart, and is determined to find himself a home, a paradise to call his own. An inveterate gambler, he won the deed to some faraway rural property and is now driving his dilapidated school bus / motorhome, looking for that farm paradise which he calls the "Blue". In a chance occurrence, the older and younger brothers are reunited, and the three of them (two brothers + Count Ivan) set off to find the "Blue". There are a few unexpected adventures along the way, seeming to come at random - but I think this feeling of randomness is very life-like because often things in life happen unexpectedly. When they finally reach the Blue, the place turns out to be a complete wreck (broken down buildings amid overgrown grass and trees). Yet, Count Ivan is determined to tackle of the Herculean task of fixing it up. Sure, this film is dated, very much a product of its time (the cars, the clothes, the hairstyles, the dingy bars, the attitudes, and illegal gambling in the back rooms of every dive hotel in every town!), but the message at the end is universal and timeless: home is something we need to build. We find ourselves a physical place, and what makes it special are the people around you, and our devotion to constructing the shell that protects our loved ones. In the end, we need to create our own paradise.