For those of you slightly confused by the title of this post. I am of course making a reference to Tommy Wiseau's 'The Room' the best terrible film ever made. It obviously has nothing to do Lenny Abrahamson's film, but I just wanted to reference Wiseau either way because I'm slightly obsessed with him. Anyway, lets talk about Room.
Spoilers ahead!
Set largely in one room (hence the title) the film deals with a young woman called Joy (Brie Larson) - though she is mostly referred to as ''Ma'' by her 5 year old song Jack (Jacob Tremblay), both of whom live in a tiny space referred to simply as ''room''. It soon becomes clear that they are in fact being kept prisoner by a mysterious man called Old Nick (Sean Bridgers) who kidnapped Joy 7 years earlier and fathered Jack through the numerous rapes he commits. Despite some close calls both Joy and Jack are able to escape and we witness their struggles to adapt to the real world, one which Jack has never seen.
The first thing I thought when reading about this was that this was a hard subject matter to cover in a film. Everyone has heard of the Josef Fritzl case in Austria and although its an interesting story, you would think that a film would be in poor taste. Room isn't based on that story, but the similarities are clear and the film deals with it admirably. This is never a gratuitous in any way, and in actual fact that main motivation of the story is the relationship between Joy and her son and how they each cope with their existence. Joy has experience of the real world and knows what she is missing, but still tries to raise her son the best she can. Whereas Jack lives in a fantasy world that his mother concocted in order for him to at least have some pleasure in life. It really is a fascinating insight into how people cope with adversity and abuse, and the juxtaposition of the ages of the characters provides a really interesting back and forth.
That back and forth is truly what pushes the film and makes it so good.This is a movie that is all about the performance of its two lead actors and let me tell you, they are two of the best acting performances I have ever seen. Brie Larson really showcases her considerable range of acting talents, it appears that she is equally confident in comedies and dramas and she deserves the Oscar this year in my opinion. She tackles a really difficult subject matter with grace and confidence and you spend the whole film rooting for her and hoping that she gets what she needs to move on with her life.
Beside her is Jacob Tremblay who puts in a quite amazing performance for an 8 year old child, and in actual fact you could argue that he is the lead in the whole story. The fate of all the characters relies on what he does and how he approaches life. It is he who saves his mothers life by escaping ''room'' and getting help, and he later saves her life when she attempts suicide by showing her that they can be strong together. That's one hell of an in depth character for such a young man to take on and he is pretty much faultless.
So yeah, Room really is worth the hype that its been given because its fantastic. Its not an easy film to watch and there are some uncomfortable moments, but given the subject matter that's to be expected and as I've said its dealt with well. And even though normally I will question the traditional Hollywood happy ending, I was totally OK with it in this case. The ending is so hopeful that you cant help but smile, and sometimes you really need that, especially when you look at the events in the film that preceded it.
Go watch it innit
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