ROOM is an Emotional Juggernaut; One of 2015's Top Films

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2016)

Lenny Abrahamson directed one of the best hidden gems of 2014 in FRANK, a strange little film starring Domhnall Gleeson and Michael Fassbender about an indie band getting an unpleasant taste of mainstream success. It was a dark comedy with some real emotion sown into it. A year later, Abrahamson returns with a new film where he goes straight for the heart with a vengeance in ROOM. This man is one of the best directors I've found for emotional impact, keeping in mind I've seeing nothing else of his work but the two mentioned. But there is no denying the emotional gut punch you get watching ROOM. Based on a source novel from author Emma Donoghue (who also penned the script), it's a disturbing (and eventually uplifting) tale told primarily from the perspective of little Jack (Jacob Tremblay). As the movie begins, Jack is awakening for his fifth birthday in Room, the only world he knows. He was born in Room lived in it all his life with his mom (Brie Larson). He's a relatively happy child who believes Room to encompass the entirety of the world. Except, now that he's five, his mom believes it's time for him to know the truth. Seven years prior, she had been tricked and abducted by the man he knows only as Old Nick, the mysterious visitor who comes at night while Jack's asleep to bring food and supplies. Old Nick locked Jack's mom in the little 11' x 11' garden shed and she's been trapped there ever since. Now that Jack is getting older, his mom wants him to help them escape to freedom.
ROOM is divided into two distinct halves: inside Room and outside Room. The first half of the movie is arguably the best material in my opinion. It paints a picture of daily life for Jack and his mom, giving the audience a glimpse into their meager existence. Ma tries to make the best of a bad situation for Jack but there's only so much she can do. Until now, Jack has had zero knowledge of a world beyond the walls. He believes TV shows are from other planets, believes common things like trees and dogs are make-believe, and addresses every item in Room as if it were one of his best friends. While Ma has done her best to keep Jack somewhat normalized and happy, she isn't faring as well. She's been beaten, tortured, and raped. She's been trapped in this room for seven years with only a small skylight in the ceiling giving her a glimpse of the natural sky. There are days when the pressure just gets to be too much; Jack calls them her "gone days" when she lies in bed, not moving or speaking a word. It's a nerve-wracking first half to a film and ramps up to the eventual escape planning. Again, the emotional gut punches keep coming as Ma realizes she will likely have to put her son in mortal danger if she ever hopes of getting him out of there with the chance of a normal life. Meanwhile, Jack is confused and scared out of his wits. His mom has turned his entire world upside down with talk of how there is an enormous world outside the four walls and how all those things he believed imaginary are real.
The second half of the movie loses a little steam because we don't have the built-in tension that comes with a captive and her son living in a box with an unstable kidnapper, but it delves into life after Room. It shows how Ma and Jack begin to adjust to the real world. To Jack, of course, this is more than his mind can process at first. I mean, the kid has never seen a horizon before and now he's faced with new environments, new experiences, and new people. While Jack does have his own troubles acclimating to the new life, Ma seems to have it worse. She seems all right at the start, relieved to be free and happy to return to normality, but after seven years of that sort of tortuous existence, normal doesn't come easy. Her parents have since divorced and her own mother has an old friend as her new live-in boyfriend. Her father has moved away and returns to reconnect with his long-lost daughter, but he has trouble accepting Jack and hiswellorigins. Brie Larson does a phenomenal job with this material. Ma is a complex, deeply troubled character and Larson positively nails it with a very natural, genuine performance. She deserved every award she brought home for this role. Equal accolades belong to young Jacob Tremblay. In my experiences, the grand majority of child actors turn in stiff, unnatural performances but there are exceptions and Tremblay is top of the list. I believed every moment of his performance in ROOM and it's a real accomplishment for both him and director Abrahamson. ROOM is undoubtedly one of the best movies from 2015 (again, my opinion but I strongly believe so) and it comes with a strong recommendation from me. You'd have to be pretty dead inside for this movie to have not even the slightest emotional effect on you.