Image taken from IMDb
Warning: Review contains spoilers for the movie. You have been warned!
“Room” is a 2015 Academy Award winning film based on a novel of the same name. Upon its release it was met with rather positive reviews across multiple sites, and was a success at the box office making about $35.4 million off of a $13 million budget.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the story, so I’ll just try to say what I think is necessary for this review. “Room” is the story of a five year old boy named Jack, who has lived his entire life living in a single 10×10 room with his mother, Joy. After showing some of their daily lives inside of the room, which they refer to as “Room,” it is revealed that Joy had been kidnapped by a man who calls himself “Old Nick” 7 years ago, and she has been trapped inside of Room by him ever since.
A little later Joy and Jack trick Old Nick into thinking Jack is dead so that he’ll take him outside and Jack will have a chance to escape. He does, and the police manage to find his mother and rescue her as well. This marks the halfway point of the movie. From this point on, the movie’s focus shifts towards Jack and Joy trying to live in the regular world after what they’ve been through.
Personally I really enjoyed Room. Despite going in with somewhat high expectations after hearing other’s praise of the film along with the knowledge that it won Academy Awards, I was not disappointed. I think one of the reasons that I enjoyed the movie so much is because of the actors and actresses. Brie Larson did an excellent job portraying a mother who is barely able to keep it together due to the situation she’s in, and I even liked Jacob Trembley’s performance, as he did an amazing job for a child actor.
Another reason I believe I liked this movie was that the script was really nice. Room provides an interesting scenario, and as the movie goes on, the mystery surrounding that scenario is slowly uncovered. In the beginning of the movie, the viewer is much like Jack, and only knows of the world inside of Room. Because of the way the movie is written, we are able to find out about the world right beside Jack. The movie focuses more on Jack’s view of the world than anyone else’s, and I think that really aided the movie. Jack, being a small child, tells the world as it is, or at least how he sees it. It’s interesting to be able to hear Jack’s monologue as well, as we get a chance to see how Jack tries to make sense of everything going on around him.
The two halves of the movie also show two different sides of Jack and his view of the world. The first half of the movie explores Jack and Joy’s life in Room, showing how they have come to adapt to this lifestyle that was forced upon them. We learn about ways that Joy has hidden evidence of the outside world in order to protect Jack, which I found rather interesting. The second half is more of an exploration into Jack’s discovery of the world outside of Room. His entire life he had only known of what was in Room, and suddenly he was thrust into the rest of the world. At first he’s rather standoffish and will only speak to Joy, but then after a while he begins to warm up to the world and his other family members. The blending of Jack’s isolation from and discovery of the world is what really makes this movie memorable.
One last thing that I would like to talk about is Jack’s mom, Joy. While Room’s main focus is on Jack, it also delves into Joy coming to terms with what happened it her. Most of the time she is able to put on a brave face for Jack’s sake, but the move does she her crack from time to time. Once they get out, she seems to be a bit better, but also struggling to move past her imprisonment. At one point, an interview says something to her that absolutely destroys her, to the point where she attempts suicide. Jack manages to call for help, so Joy manages to survive. Later when she talks to Jack, she seems to really regret her actions and promises never to try to leave Jack again. Joy’s character arc really shows how much thought and effort was put into this movie.
I would definitely recommend giving “Room” a shot. If you’re in the mood for a good drama, and can handle some of the rather intense moments in it, then this movie has got you covered. “Room” will not leave you disappointed.
Critical Condition 