2 great performances and a captivating story

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2016)

"Room" is an American 2-hour movie from last year. The director is Lenny Abramson and writer is Emma Donoghue, who actually adapted her own novel for the screen with this one. Both scored Academy Award nominations for their work with the Best Director slot certainly being the more surprising feat. The movie also got in for Best Picture and won lead actress Brie Larsen an Oscar, just like basically all precursors. Jacob Tremblay, however, was the real lead here and it is absolutely ridiculous that he was nominated for so many supporting awards. Voice-overs are usually a good indicator who is in the center of the story and we hear him at the very beginning and end for example. Also there are key scenes where we still find out about him while his mother is out of the picture, such as the successful escape or after his mother tries to commit suicide. But this should not mean that Larson isn't lead. She is as well, but only the second lead despite being credited first.
I believed this film delivered on many areas, such as emotion and drama most importantly. The escape inside the carpet was downright thrilling from start to finish until the very moment we realize he succeeded. But even the tension stays high as we do not know what happened to his mother. Did he kill her or not. The consequence of these scenes is also the emotion in here. The moments when Larson's character runs towards the car with her son inside is really moving and there are more scenes like that, such as the way they meet the grandparents or also the scene with the boy and the dog towards the end. You will be amazed by these and it is really difficult to hold the tears back.
This is a very tragic, yet very uplifting film at the same time, but certainly more of the latter. The scenes early on in the prison do not seem as sad as they really are as we see everything through the eyes of the son. It starts right away inside the shack and I initially thought the woman actually has a mental disorder because of which she won't leave the place and the guy coming occasionally is somebody who provides them with the necessary items in exchange for sexual pleasure. It is seen a lot more as a prison when the action moves outside, which is roughly the entire second half of the film. I personally think that there are a couple scenes that don't add that much really and could have been left out. It is also difficult to say if this film had worked even better if it would have ended with the reunion of the two outside, but I guess it would have been a major (maybe impossible) challenge to make it work for 100 minutes or so. I guess it was best this way. Another flaw I saw with it was the attempted suicide scene I mentioned earlier already. It felt a bit unrealistic drama at this point. Yes it was all too much for her, but she fought for survival for 5 years and then she would do something like that. Of course, the reason was that she had doubts after the reporter asked her why she did not give up on her son inside. But this also would have been her surrender I guess as she certainly would never have gotten outside without him. But yeah, the way the press was depicted in here was generic and standard in a negative way. They could have dealt better with that situation.
But despite these criticisms, these almost 120 minutes were a captivating watch and truly flew by. I can see why the Academy turned out to like it that much. Larson and Tremblay shine a lot and it was impossible to say who was better. Okay, I could have done without some parts I mentioned already and also the mother-daughter argument, but these are just minor flaws. In the grand scheme of things, this film worked extraordinarily well and was extremely tense and touching at the same time. I command you to check it out. Highly recommended.