8/10

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2016)

A fantastic mix of genre, this film is a psychological thriller, a horror film, a drama, a character study and all of this it is doing at the same time seamlessly in what is one of the darkest films of the year.
This story is incredible and opens up naturally to an endless list of themes that get explored and there is so much that can be done with this core material that it would be practically impossible to include it all, that's why Room succeeds. It understands what it is and doesn't try to reach too far out of its zone in what would certainly result overbearing. By putting the focus solely on the mother/son relationship it doesn't feel like the film is missing anything.
I have been telling everyone since I saw her in 21 Jump Street in 2012 that Brie Larson would be going a long way, this is proof of that and whilst I still reckon Rooney Mara or Kate Winslet to be the best actresses of the year, she sticks to a close third. There were times, especially in the first half, where everything, every emotional beat fell on her performance and she managed to rip your heart away. The way in which she portrays a mother's worst fear is harrowing. Yet, her fictional son, steals the show away from her. Look it is easy to get too excited about a child performance just because it is good, but this is not what's happening here. Jacob Tremblay has possibly upstaged my favorite young performance ever (Tye Sheridan in "Mud") and I didn't think that possible. He really made a character come to life, there were no filters, it was a true performance that made him disappear from the screen.
I think that has also to be credited with Abrahamson fantastic work. This is one of those few films where you really feel the director's presence and it doesn't get in the way of the film. He really had a strong vision for this and you see how powerfully it makes the transition to the screen. You feel the confidence and the inspiration.
I had a fantastic experience with the film, whilst it doesn't manage to achieve what other sad films like, the example I always use, "Requiem for A Dream", in other words to be depressing but at the same time give you that rush of adrenaline and experience you kind of want to relive, it is still a deep and insightful drama.