A Heart-Warming Story

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2016)

I didn't really have any big expectations when going into 'Room' - I initially thought it looked like one of those Oscar bait titles that tries way too hard to be emotionally powerful and becomes an overdone melodrama. However, after seeing a few scenes and realising that it's directed by Lenny Abrahamson (previously having directed the quirky masterpiece known as 'Frank') it intrigued me, and started to look like a lot more than just typical Oscar bait... and thankfully, it was. This is one of those beautiful films that manages to capture the strength of love and the importance of family, as well as reminding us that the less we have, the more we appreciate.
'Room' tells the story of a devoted mother's relationship with her five-year-old son, Jack, who has been living in an enclosed 'room' ever since he was born. This is essentially the boy's whole world for the first five years of his life, which immediately establishes the mother as a strong and loving character with the determination to bring up her son properly, providing him with happiness and creativity despite their harsh living conditions. Abrahamson often incorporates tight framing and close-up shots here in order to signify how restricted these characters are in a physical sense, yet how open they are emotionally - making for some genuinely heartfelt interactions. This is where the film succeeds, seeing a realistic relationship between a loving mother and her young son is truly heart-warming, especially if you take their limited surroundings into consideration. Even when the tone switches and tension is built up, realism is still maintained, the characters feel just as engaging, and the overall atmosphere is handled pretty well throughout.
Unfortunately, despite how well these interactions work, the focus always leans towards the character of Jack and his perspective of the world, with segments featuring narration from the little boy himself as he adjusts and learns about the real world for the first time. This basically provides us with the typical portrayal of children in films like this - innocent, naive and somewhat cute... and although there isn't anything wrong with the execution of this, it's nowhere near as captivating as the actual relationship between the mother and the son. After a while, the film starts to slightly lose focus in general, by including some drama which felt somewhat forced and unnecessary. However, these are just minor flaws in the grand scheme of things.
In terms of cinematography, the film seems to switch between Dogme 95 style filming (handheld/steadicam) and standard static shots, which feels quite inconsistent in terms of style, but works pretty well regarding the atmosphere being conveyed. When it comes to acting, everyone pulled off a magnificent job; Brie Larson winning an Oscar for this role was well-deserved, and although I'm not really a fan of child actors (they can either be great or just really cringe-worthy), I thought Jacob Tremblay was pretty fantastic in his role. All in all, this is a heart-warming story with some phenomenal performances and beautiful sequences that will undoubtedly tug at your heartstrings, which is why I'm giving this film a very strong 8,4/10.