"Room" Review

Life for 5-year-old Jack (newcomer Jacob Tremblay) and his ‘Ma’ (Brie Larson from “United States of Tara” and “21 Jump Street”) doesn’t extend outside of the 11-by-11 foot interior of a sealed, sound proof shed. They’ve been held captive for several years by a man only named as ‘Old Nick’. To Jack, this shed (aptly named, Room) is the whole world— at least that’s what his Ma has raised him to think. The truth of the situation is too much for anyone to bear, let alone a young child. 

Though director Lenny Abrahamson and screenwriter Emma Donoghue, adapting her best-selling novel of the same name, tell the story largely through Jack’s worldview: with the wide-eyed innocence every small child has. Jack says good morning to all of the inanimate objects dispersed throughout the small space because  to him, these things (the table he eats at, the chair he sits in) are his friends. He’s not only unaware that there are others like it, but that a whole world is sitting on the other side of the walls. Ma has done her best to preserve this light inside of Jack, but makes the hard decision to devise an escape plan and tell him the dark truth. It’s a painful moment, one that Jack doesn’t truly comprehend, but the pain and weariness on Ma’s face tells us every last horror this woman has been forced to endure, and as the audience, that’s all we need to know. 

Abrahamson has perfectly captured the claustrophobic, grim aesthetic, as if he lifted Donoghue’s words straight from the page of the novel. The first half, spent in Room, is shot through a tight, grim and dingy colored lens by cinematographer Danny Cohen. When Jack and Ma finally do escape in the film’s second half, we feel the brightness and immensity of the world. It’s just as sprawling to us as it is to young Jack, and we also witness the pain of re-immersing after years of confinement that threatens his mother. 

The less you know going into “Room,” the better, and I advise that before watching the film, you read the book. Some of the book’s magic (which comes in being so fully immersed in Jack’s internal monologue) is lost in its transition to the big screen, through no fault of the filmmakers or actors involved. 

Where the film does truly succeed, however, is in the discovery of Tremblay, who is a complete force of nature. This is a performance unlike anything I’ve seen before, and one that is completely reliant on Tremblay’s talents as a blossoming actor. There’s not a false note or phoned-in moment; the 9-year-old sells every single moment of a child struggling to adjust to a world that was previously kept from him. No matter who he’s sharing the screen with, he holds his own and dominates the screen.

Tremblay shines the brightest, however, alongside Larson, and her performance is no less magnificent. It comes as less of a surprise, because this is an actress that has continually delivered magnificent work no matter what role she’s in or how large it may be, but is every bit as masterful as her young co-star’s. Her character’s frustration balanced with the unconditional love she feels for her son makes Ma feel like a person, and not just a character. 

This is a woman whose life was stolen from her. In that tragedy, she found a purpose: keeping the baby she had by her abuser safe no matter what the cost. That, and the struggles that come finding her freedom are masterfully articulated to us by Larson sometimes by glances, or mere inflections in her voice. She does not necessarily need words to let us know the pain that runs deep inside of her. The film is completely reliant on the exceptional chemistry between the two. 

Despite its tragic premise, “Room” is a story about how hope is stronger than any scar brought about by pain and suffering. The film contradicts Ma’s warnings that there’s no magic in the world, by detailing the miracle that is the love shared between Ma and Jack. It’s a tough, but ultimately, rewarding sit that reaffirms the value of life, and the importance of love.

Grade: A+ 

Oscar Chances: Larson is a lock for Lead Actress and could possibly win. Tremblay’s young age will most likely keep him from breaking into the Lead Actor category, so look for him in the Supporting Actor category. 

After winning Best Picture at the Toronto Film Festival, the film stands a great chance at being nominated in other categories, like Picture, Screenplay, Supporting Actress (for Joan Allen) and potentially even Director. It really all depends on how much voters embrace “Room,” though I feel that the film’s emotional heft will definitely resonate into Oscar success.