Our latest cinematic excursion was to see Room, currently showing in some theaters, probably art houses. This movie is completely unlike anything else showing during the holiday movie season. It’s small, creepy and cringy, but not a horror movie. It’s dramatically intense, completely lacking in special effects, it has no big stars, only a small cast and it’s not for kids, even though one of the main characters is a young kid.
The movie stars Brie Larson as a young mother, “Ma” and Jacob Tremblay as her 5 year old son Jack. Ma was kidnapped at 17 and has been imprisoned in a small room for 7 years by the extraordinarily creepy “Old Nick” (Sean Bridgers). Her 5 year old son, apparently the son of Old Nick through rape, has never been outside that room. In those years Ma has done everything she can to give Jack some sort of life inside that 10 foot room, while dealing with Old Nick, who is both her captor and the person that supplies Ma and Jack with the necessities of some sort of life. Jack only knows Nick as a voice, who opens the door while Jack hides in the closet and Ma does what’s needed to keep Nick at bay.
The first half of the movie centers on Ma and Jake’s life inside Room, which for Jake is the entire world, with Room as its name. In mid-movie, Ma enlists Jake in a scheme to escape from Room and they succeed. Police swarm in on Nick’s house, arresting him, removing his threat and releasing Ma and Jake into a huge, confusing, scary world, like nothing Jack has ever seen. Ma, released from the need to be the entire world to Jack, 24 X 7, has to re-adjust to life outside and figure out how to go on. The world has changed over 7 years, the media jackals are hounding her for the “inside story” and she has to find a way to explain to Jack how Room has now been replaced by World. Her parents have moved on too and need to find away to bring Ma and Jack back into the family, after having given up hope. Jack, however, has had his universe suddenly expand and seems to be ready to move on, eager to see World.
It’s hard to know exactly what to say about this film. The basic plot is extremely creepy and sometimes it seems downright voyeuristic to be watching it. The story is SO personal and you get so engaged in the characters, that it’s hard to turn away, even though it seems like you should not be watching it as Friday night, movie and popcorn entertainment. Room is based on the book of the same name by Emma Donohughue, who also wrote the screenplay. It is fiction, not apparently based on anything true, although the story does have a distinct plausibility that adds to the creep factor. It was directed by Lenny Abrahamson, an Irish director not familiar to me. The acting performances by the main characters, Ma, Jack and her parents, are remarkable. I know that the Oscar committee doesn’t usually consider a best actor award for actors who don’t already have a track record, but Brie Larson definitely should be on a short list and the kid, Jacob Tremblay deserves something, because his ability to make a movie so dark and dramatic seems downright uncanny for a kid of his age.
Do you want to see this? It’s not an easy movie, not a lite-night out, but you will only rarely ever seen dramatic acting performances this good or intense. I recommend seeing it, prepared for what it is. When it was over, after I de-compressed and re-entered World, I remarked that, in a way, it reminded by of The Road, the only other similarly intense single parent and child story that I can recall. Unlike The Road, Room doesn’t bring us to the brink of extinction and does have a benign ending, but it is as close-up and personal as The Road. I have to give Room both a high and a qualified rating, an excellent movie, but not one to be taken lightly. My qualification doesn’t diminish it as a film, but does require a warning… “Not movie for easy entertainment”
