Room: A Poignant Picture

Last Thursday, me and my boyfriend took a trip to the cinema to watch Room. There will be spoilers, if you do not want spoilers, please turn away, and head to the cinema to watch the aforementioned film, then come back! 

It is the latest offering from Irish director Lenny Abrahamson; the director of Frank starring Michael Fassbender that came out in 2014. The film has earned quite a few nominations this awards season, most notably Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress, Oscar nods. And let me tell you this... it thoroughly deserves each and every nomination it gets. 

Room is based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. It's about a mother (Brie Larson) and her young son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who live in a enclosed space, simply referred to as Room. As the film unravels, Abrahamson slowly and surely builds up the incredibly close relationship between mother and son. He also builds up the atmosphere, the tension inside such a small space, the frayed emotions of both characters. The film starts slow, it eases you into their abnormal life, you learn harrowing truths of how they got there, and truly understand the bond between them. The palpable tension in the room is obvious, the raw emotions from both characters always on edge and apparent but never shoved in your face.
The amount of different emotions I went through whilst watching this film is outrageous and I left the film feeling a bit drained myself. I was fully engrossed from the get go. I felt sadness, rage, happiness – basically, I felt like I was being controlled by the characters from Inside Out, only they keep taking over from each other every 10 minutes. The euphoria when Jack escaped to the despair when Joy is fighting her demons from the room. It is an emotional roller-coaster. 

The acting from Brie Larson is outstanding, it is an understated, real performance. She doesn't overplay the situation, she is believable in every sense that you truly find yourself invested in Joy Newsome. The character is honest and trying her hardest to maintain a sense of routine and normality for her son, and you can see how it drains her. You can see every emotion that Joy goes through, and you go through it with her. You cannot help but root for this character to make it through, make it through her time in the room, make it through her adjustment to freedom, make it through to have as normal a life she can with Jack. I cannot praise Larson enough for her performance. She fully deserves every accolade for this heart-wrenching portrayal. 

Another incredibly worthwhile mention goes to Jacob Tremblay. What an outstanding display from the 9 year old. I will admit right now, I cannot ever usually stand child actors, I tend to find them irritating. The kid from The Babadook? Made me want to turn off the film. Anyway, Tremblay was also ridiculously good and I cannot applaud him enough for how well he did this. 

This film is bittersweet, it is honest and heart-breaking. You probably won't leave the cinema feeling light; it's a heavy subject matter. But you will leave absolute in the fact that you just saw a masterpiece of a film. I may have only seen 5 films so far in 2016 but I am guaranteeing you right now, that this will make my top 5 of the year. It is that good.