Claustrophobic, scary and brilliant

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2016)

Room is the incredible story about Ma, played by Brie Larson, who at 17 years of age, gets abducted and imprisoned in a shed at her perpetrator's house. Now 7 years later, she has the 5 year old boy Jack, played by Jacob Trembley, who lives with her inside the shed. She does everything in her power to make him feel safe. The Irishman Lenny Abrahamson directed this hard and claustrophobic film. The first impression of Room is that the film is rather comfortable. Ma and Jack enjoy each others company and do things that a mother and son usually does. They bake, eat food, celebrate birthdays and watch TV together. After a while as we get more into the story, their relationship changes and becomes more and more tumultuous. Jack by the age of 5, is forced to face and take action against things that no human being ever should have to.
Room is really divided in two parts, the first one in captivity and the second one in freedom. The interesting thing that Abrahamson does with this film, is that he in an incredible way asks very daring questions to us. With a life in total captivity, is it possible to feel freedom afterwards? When the safe base a 5 year old has felt his entire life just disappears, what happens then? How does the public react when something like this gets out in the open? Some parts really reminded me of the film Gone Girl where we see in the same way, how the media exploits the suffering the family is going through, only for their own self gain. These moral and psychological questions is the foundation of Room.
The best thing about Room is these questions Abrahamson stirs up by not prevaricate, embellish or avoid delicate subjects. He shows it just like it is, no matter how brutal. The second thing that really enhances this film is the amazing acting by both Brie Larson and Jacob Trembley. Their chemistry is truly amazing and Larson even won an Oscar for her performance. If their relationship hadn't felt real, the film wouldn't at all work in the way it did. Room is perhaps one of 2015's most provocative and thought-provoking films
David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se