'Room' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Lenny Abrahamson, Best Actress; Brie Larson, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Won: Best Actress; Brie Larson.

Room is one of the final films I needed to see of the Best Picture nominees, and fortunately, my local AMC Theaters brought it back into circulation this week along with a few other awards contenders. Now that I've seen Room, I have two Best Picture nominees left to review so you can expect reviews on The Big Short and Brooklyn relatively soon. The premise of Room is that a five-year old boy named Jack and his mother Joy Newsome have been isolated from the world, held captive in a shed, to which is referred to as"Room". I found the film's plot to be very front loaded as my main interest was captivated in learning about "Room" and how the two could possibly escape.

After the first act of the film, the plot got bogged down and I was slowly losing interest as the film progressed. However, that's not to say that this isn't a great film because in many ways it's a brilliant piece of art. One of the best parts of the film is that it's mostly from the perspective of a child, and this allows the film to delve deeper into the novel upon which it's based. What makes this so fantastic is that the viewer much like Jack are left in the dark and very curious as to what exactly is occurring throughout the film. now of course the audience understands a bit more since they're older and are more knowledgable than young Jack who thinks that all that exists outside of "Room" is outer space. Now this is huge credit to the screenwriters and the director Lenny Abrahamsson who manages to execute the film quite well.

Abrahamsson is primarily assisted by his wonderful core cast of Jacob Tremblay as Jack and Brie Larson as Ma. Jacob Tremblay was a wonderful discovery and probably one of the best child actors I've ever seen in film. Now for Brie Larson, she is stellar and makes the relationship of mother and son between her and Jacob Tremblay quite convincing. I can say with the upmost confidence, without having even seen all the other Best Actress nominees, that she deserves to be awarded the Oscar.

One other thing to note regarding Room is that it's very depressing at times, but as the film progresses, the oblique setting brightens both literally and figuratively. I can't quite say I loved room but at the same time I didn't walk out of the film regretting having watched it. It fits perfectly in that "enjoyable award contender film I probably won't feel compiled to watch again" and for me that doesn't quite diminish the film.

Overall, I enjoyed it and thought Brie Larson is one of the best female performances I've seen onscreen in a long time, and aside from her phenomenal performance, the film bolsters a great script, directing, and cinematography.

Film Assessment: B+