One of the Best of 2015

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2016)

How many times in your life have you been forced to finish a bad movie, book, or story, all the while just wishing it would end? Rarely is that longing as desperate in our reality as it is for the characters in Room. When Jack screams at his Ma, "I want a different story!", you know there's more to it than just a hunger for a different bedtime yarn. Her response, "No! This is the story you get!", punctuates their situation, and ultimately our own desires, with such force it nearly knocked me out. Room, a powerhouse of horrifying drama and real-life suspense, breaks out from its confining premise with enough gentle moments of love to make it one of the year's best. If you can't tell, I'm being careful with the details of the plot. However, know that it's a setup that's about as bleak as one can imagine. Director Abrahamson (maker of the criminally underrated Frank) creates an atmosphere of intensely palpable desperation in his small sets. In lesser hands, Room could've been either an oppressively gloomy downer or dishonestly optimistic hack-job. Instead, it's both strikingly candid and beautifully grace-filled This compassion for its subjects is thanks in no small part to the much-deserved-Oscar-nominated Larson, and young actor Tremblay. His character, in particular, presents such a powerful look at childish naïveté, he gives us one of the most amazing examples childhood trauma and perseverance I've ever seen. That theme (determination through suffering) creates an experience that harbors as much exhilaration as it does tears. Piercing and gut-wrenching, Room is a film you may want to escape, but will be glad you endured.