'Room' - Review

Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Cast: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, William H. Macy
Release Date (UK): January 2016

Although the film's stars Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay and the director Lenny Abrahmson may be relatively unheard of talent, after watching Room, their presence will be firmly on your radar - and it's there to stay.

Held against their will in a single - room shed in a man's garden for years, a woman (Brie Larson) and her son 5 year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) conceive a plan to be free of their captor and Room. They succeed and both mother and son have to adjust to the world as Ma struggles to acclimatise to freedom and Jack experiences interaction with other people (besides his mother) and much more for the first time.

As alluded to in the introduction, the performances of Larson and Tremblay are the heart and soul of the film. Larson, brilliant in Short Term 12, continues to astound with her raw honesty that she has demonstrated so many times. Her internalised and layered performance never falters as she plays Ma, the resilient woman who finds the will to raise her son under unfathomable circumstances with such valour whilst battling engrossing sadness and fatigue. Having recently won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama, the Oscar statuette is firmly within her grasp and rightfully so, as she gives one of the year's best performances. However, Larson is never better than when she is sharing the screen with Tremblay. Tremblay gives one of the finest performances by a child actor in recent memory as Jack as his innate natural instincts and energy seeps from the screen. You don't feel like you are watching performances from either Larson or Tremblay - you feel like you are watching the truth.

The film is deftly directed by Lenny Abrahamson (director of Frank) who handles the subject matter with such regard whilst adding his own artistic flourishes. Like the novel of the same name, Room is largely told through the eyes of Jack. However, Abrahamson also goes to greater efforts to see Larson's character as more than just Ma as she reconciles regaining her freedom with the feeling of being more isolated than ever; as it develops, the film sees Jack blossom with his new surroundings as Ma (her name is revealed to be Joy) regresses into an almost childlike state.

The screenplay (written by the author of Room, Emma Donoghue) was incredibly faithful to the source material, ensuring fans of the book will be thrilled with the final result. Whilst some scenes are omitted, others are harrowing with their visual realisation. Surprisingly, one of the film's most traumatic scenes is when Joy gives her interview about her experience in Room. The line of questioning and manner in which the interview is conducted is infuriating to witness and highlights the media and public insensitivity and feeling of entitlement to survivor cases. In addition, the fact that Joy has to participate in the interview to pay her legal bills is sickening, and evokes such a strong and visceral reaction, both from Joy and the audience.

This life affirming and suspenseful story of survival reminds us how time and circumstance can turn us all into a captive, resulting in one of the most powerful and emotional films in years.