"Good morning rug! good morning TV! good morning sink!"

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2015)

"Room" (2015 release; 117 min.) brings the story of a young lady named Joy, and her son Jack. As the movie opens, Jack wakes up and can't wait to tell Ma that it's his 5th birthday. He goes around the room, exclaiming with joy "good morning rag, good morning TV, good morning sink!". It becomes clear very quickly that, despite Jack's innocence and joy, they are actually held captive and Jack has never known anything other than "Room", as they call this place. Joy is trying to figure out a way to deceive the man who is holding them captive, so as to escape. TO tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: first, this is directed by Lenny Abrahamson, who just last year brought us the delightfully quirky "Frank", and Emma Donoghue, who wrote the book on which this is based, wrote the script. I have not read the book, so I do not know how closely the movie sticks to the book (I'm guessing quite closely, though). Second, as the movie's trailer makes plain, Joy and Jack do end up getting out of "Room", and as a result this movie really consists of two separate parts: before and after, and each takes about half of the movie's running time. The "before" part is nothing short of extraordinary, as we observe Joy and Jack living in their cramped quarters (which look quite big to Jack). Third, everyone's been talking about the Best Actress Oscar chances for Brie Larson in her role of Joy/Ma, so imagine my surprise when it turns out that yes, she is quite good, but the young boy playing Jack simply steals the movie, period. Jacob Tremblay brings one of the more astonishing and accomplished performances of such a young actor or actress in recent memory. Joan Allen (as Joy's mom) is quite powerful too, but also keep an eye out for William H. Macy's short (less than 19 min.) but impactful role as Joy's dad.
"Room" opened this past weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I finally had an opportunity to see it. The week night screening where I saw this at was attended surprisingly well for a week night, which is great news. I imagine that "Room" will pick up quite a few nominations in the upcoming awards season, and deservedly so. "Room" is an outstanding movie on so many levels, and I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Room" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!