Beautiful, Emotional, Intense, and Dramatic. A Truly Gripping Story

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2016)

*** IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THIS FILM - DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER AND TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM THE SYNOPSIS' - THE TRAILER ESPECIALLY SPOILS WAY TOO MUCH AND GOING IN AS BLIND AS POSSIBLE IS THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THIS MOVIE***
'Room' is a Drama that focuses on the relationship between a mother and her 5 year old boy as they are trapped within the walls of a single room with no signs of ever getting out. This movie was truly amazing, it was intense, emotional, had a beautiful, unpredictable and gripping story, fantastically written characters backed up by even more incredible performances, and was directed and shot amazingly. The plot of the film was amazing in terms of the events of the film, but where it really shines is when it explores this very interesting and unique relationship between Jack and his Mum, and you get to understand these very fleshed out characters and learn a lot about them. I was completely mesmerised from start to finish and not once was i bored, as the story of these characters is so emotional, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and dramatic that you care for them as if they are real people.
Going into this film without seeing the trailer made this film infinitely more enjoyable and surprising. There were sequences that made me feel ways that no other film ever has. I have experienced intense edge of seat moments in films before but there were part(s) of this film where i could feel my heart beating like crazy and no other film had ever done that before. That is really a testament also to the amazing directing by Lenny Abrahamson, i have not seen his other films but the way he captures all of the emotion and all of the drama in such a unique and effective way makes me interested to see what he works on next. The way the film was shot was so confronting that you feel like you are going through everything with these characters, and that you are trapped in this room with them.
The performances from both Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay were absolutely phenomenal. They delivered every line and gave off every emotion so perfectly that it sucks you into the film and it makes everything incredibly grounded, realistic, and personal. Brie Larson was astounding, you could tell her character was very damaged, and you didn't need much of an explanation of what she has been through, simply from the way she talks and acts in certain scenarios you can gather a lot of information about her past, and that shows how amazing she was in this film. But even more surprising was the astounding performance by Jacob Tremblay, this kid is going places, usually you have child actors who show signs of being great but never really make it, but this kid has just put in what is probably my favourite performance from a child actor ever. He commands the screen in every scene and was one of the biggest highlights of the film. But even more astounding was that neither one overshadows the other and both of their amazing performances are front and center the whole time.
So overall this is an incredible film, from the directing to the performances, to the plot, everything tied together really well and made for a very gripping, dramatic and intense story. Late in the film it does get a few pacing issues here and there but nothing so substantial as to dampen my overall enjoyment. This is a must see film, and although it will most likely not win Best Picture, i think it is the dark horse in the competition.
9.3/10