Room (9/10): Harrowing film powered by two wonderful performances

"When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I'm five, I know everything!"

It doesn't feel right to call Lenny Abrahamson's latest film a small one because it is such a rewarding and emotional experience. Yes, it is a low key and small scaled film, but it has such a profound impact on the audience that it is far from being small. The first half of the film takes place in a very confined space, which makes the second half of the movie even more rewarding as the world around these two protagonists expands. Very few times in film has a director captured such an interesting and authentic mother and son dynamic as we find here with Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay's performances. Larson is guaranteed to win the Oscar for her lead role here and she fully deserves it as this mother who has endured the worst of times, but found a means of surviving through her son. She truly lives a nightmare, but Abrahamson doesn't focus on that as much as he does at making us experience their  world through the young son's eyes. He is innocent and has never seen the world outside of the small room in which he unknowingly has been held captive since his birth. His mother has done everything she can to give him a happy and normal life despite the situation. Tremblay delivers an equally impressive performance, and his young age shouldn't have been a factor when it came to voting for the best performances of the year. He was outstanding and held his own in each scene he shared with Larson. The two performances are the main reason why Room has achieved such greatness. 

Room is based on Emma Donoghue's best selling novel about a 5 year old boy who experiences the world in the confined space of a small room. The only person he has direct contact with is his mother. His only contact with the outside world is through a small TV, but his mother has told him that the images are of other universes far from theirs. Jack also knows there is one other person that exists in their world, as some nights a visitor comes into the room from a locked door, but his mom orders him to keep away from him and stay in his wardrobe. Jack's mother has done her best to give him love and nurture, but as his curiosity begins to grow there is only so far she can go with her story. What will happen when young Jack realizes that there is actually more to the world than the small room in which they have been confined in? What follows is a deeply emotional and profound thriller that shook me to my core. 

Lenny Abrahamson is known for delivering original and unconventional stories. Previously to Room he had directed Michael Fassbender in Frank, a film in which the main protagonist wore a giant paper-mache mask throughout the story. Room however goes a step further delivering a thriller in a very unconventional way as we get to experience the harrowing events through the innocence of a five year old boy and the depths his mother goes through to give him a normal life. From the very opening scene we know there is nothing normal about their lifestyle, but at the same time the film avoids the typical atmosphere we are used to seeing in crime related films. I don't want to say too much about Room because the less you know about it the better, but the second half delivers even more thrills and engages the audience with even more to ponder about. Finding freedom is only have of the battle, and most of the time these films fail to focus on it, but Room manages to deliver on both ends. This is an effective and powerful film and I'm finding it incredibly hard to put into words how much it affected me.