ROOM is a disturbing look into the Canadian Psyche . . .

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2015)

. . . that is far easier to take allegorically than in any literal sense of story-telling. As a linear tale, ROOM is deeply flawed, building to its primary climax just 58 minutes into the 118-minute feature film, and then tacking on a pretty boring final hour (that mostly emptied my American theater by the end of the showing). However, when astute viewers realize that the main characters and locales in ROOM are standing in for other things, the flick as a whole is much easier to take. Perhaps if it was more directly titled (CANADIAN CONFESSIONS, for instance) more people in the world film market might "get" it. This movie is suggesting that most if not all Canadians feel trapped in a cold, squalid room or shed--sort of a back bay to the Real World tantalizingly close (but a world away) just South of their border. The ironically named Mom here, "Joy," tries to convince son Jack that every wall has two sides, but Jack's not really buying it. Jack's kidnapper\rapist father, of course, is meant to represent Uncle Sam, that is, America. And Jack himself, certainly, stands in for the Canadian film industry, infamous for being comprised of a million counterfeit Americas--amazingly including ROOM itself (C'Mon, guys, don't tell us ROOM is in "America," and then show a politically-incorrect "Apache Burger" joint just down the block in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada!). When Joy, with Jack's help, escapes ROOM (for the wider world of America, allegorically speaking), she has so much regret over what she's missed during the prime of her life the past seven years she attempts suicide. Only Jack (that is, the fraudulent Canadian film industry, the country's main export now that the XL Pipeline won't be spewing nation-killing tar sands oil to the rest of the planet) is able to cheer up Joy (at least, while in some sort of confined ROOM, such as a theater or shed).