Oscars Season: Room

Adapted from Emma Donoghue's novel of the same title, Room revolves around Joy (Brie Larson) and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), imprisoned in a cramped, grimy room by "Old Nick" (a character most comparable to the real life psychopath Josef Fritzl). Shut off from the outside world for years, Jack has no idea of the outside world and knows solely of "room," while Joy is all too aware of their sick-minded torturer and the abhorrent life that he has subjected them to.

Larson and Tremblay deliver two of the greatest performances in recent memory and are so completely believable and so completely enveloped in their characters that they elevate Room from a brilliant film to the heady heights of Oscar winning sublimity. The chemistry between the two is perfect to such a degree that the barrier of performance appears to disappear and they are their characters. While Larson is flawless and impressively subtle as Joy's existence seemingly collapses around her and her hope of escape dies, Tremblay delivers one of, if not the, greatest child performances in cinema history as the heart-warmingly innocent and heart-breakingly confined 5 year old Jack.

Director Abrahamson manages to offer two radically different viewpoints throughout the film, moving between the simplistic and often refreshingly pure vision of Jack and Joy's brutal, depression-doused outlook that proves increasingly tough to watch but riveting nevertheless. The use of frantic, exploratory camerawork to accompany Jack's adventures within "Room" and the desperate perspective of Joy's that emphasises the sheer brutality of their environment helps deliver these opposing stances to the viewer. 


Without revealing any more of the film, as it is best to go into Room with as little knowledge of the plot as possible, it takes incredible and unexpected turns that kept me entirely engulfed and increasingly involved like no film has ever done. Being adapted by Donoghue from her own novel, the writing is beautifully imaginative and perfectly paced, drawing Jack's view of the world into a wonderful kaleidoscope of bright colours and soft tints that touches wonderfully on a completely innocent and unblemished view of the world.


Pure, genuine emotion is incredibly hard to deliver in a film. But Room delivers that and so much more. Never have I cried so openly and so plentifully during a film. And I believe that says everything and all about Abramson's creation. Truly special performances, imaginative camerawork, wondrous writing and pulse racing twists and turns makes this a once in a lifetime experience. 

Room captures two people at their very lowest: victims of the worst treatment and most distressing conditions known to man. But it also a triumph: of the human spirit and of resistance and resilience in the face of a life of torture and abject misery. This film took me completely by surprise and left me extremely shaken and incredibly reflective. It spoke to me in ways nothing has ever done before. It deserves to be right up there for the best picture Oscar, ahead of the Revenant. If you see just one film this year...make it Room.