Emotional and rewarding, Room is a beautiful coming of age thriller that is one of 2015 bests

Rating: 10/10 (18 November 2015)

Today's movie shares a big trait with True Grit that was debated when the awards season came out; with who the main character was. True Grit's marketing pushed that Jeff Bridges was the main actor of the movie even though the story really shows that Haliee Steinfeld was the focus. Once the awards season came, she was given plenty of supporting actress accolades even though most people felt that she was more in the reigns of best actress. Room will probably have this same issue with one of it's actors.
I think the reason the studios tend to put great child performers into separate categories away from the big A-listers that are nominated for other movies because their afraid that they either won't have a chance at winning or if they do win, no one would take the award seriously. Children need to be taken seriously.
Today's movie Room may be a mother/son bonding story, but it's really about the psychology that goes through their minds when after years of being together, are going on a journey that separates them physically and emotionally. It's about two people growing up despite being different generations as Room portrays.
Joy Newsome (played by Brie Larson) is a young woman that has been living in a shed converted into a small home for the past seven years by her kidnapper she calls "Old Nick" (played by Sean Bridgers). In the time since, she gave birth to a child (fathered by Old Nick) that she named Jack. In the years growing up there, Joy tried as hard as she could to be a good mother and protect Jack from the situation and raise him like any other child. Now turning five, Jack (played by Jacob Tremblay) only sees the Room they live in as the world and that anything outside is "outer space".
Joy finds out that "Old Nick" has lost his job and is low on money, which will mean fewer resources for food and heat. It is now that she tells Jack about the outside world (the only thing they had for information or entertainment was television that was mostly tuned onto Dora the Explorer for Jack) and that they need to get out. She knows that the only way out is if "Old Nick" realizes that Jack has to get out due to illness. The first half of the movie is planning on the escape and the second half is about what happens after wood.
I can barley say anything about Room as most of the movie contains major spoilers. All I can say is that even though this is a thriller, I count this as a coming of age story. A really good one as well considering that we have both a young woman and a little boy who know little about the world around them. Brie Larson does phenomenal as Joy who has the hard task of both remaining forever frightened of "Old Nick" and being a proper mother.
Speaking of which, Jacob Tremblay may be the frontrunner for most supporting actor awards as his performance is better then a lot of child actors. How they got a kid this young to pull off the necessary emotions that few adult can properly show off? I don't know, but this is defiantly his movie. Is perception on the world and the adults around him remind us why we were frightened by the rest of the world as children. When our parents aren't around, we might as well be on an alien planet, stepping around strange sounds and sights. This child made me realize how one can see the world differently at a different age.
I'll give this ten imaginary dogs out of ten. Room is an emotional, but rewarding coming of age story that may be hard to sit through the first half. But once the second half starts, you'll realize how strong bonds are between parents and children. You'll realize that in order to move one, part of your old self has to go away. Room is one of the 2015's best.