Jack lives with Ma in a single-room that contains a bed, a bathtub, a small kitchen, a wardrobe, and a TV set. This is Jack’s world. It is all he has ever known. He has never set foot in the outside world. As such, he believes that Room and everything it contains are what’s real. The breadth of nature is an illusion that exists only on television. Ma indulges these fantasies because this is their life. She loves Jack with all her heart and provides a comfortable atmosphere in the most honorable manner she can. She ensures he lives a fulfilling life — physically active, mentally sound, healthy diet, limiting TV-watching time and good hygiene. She bakes him a cake to celebrate his 5th birthday. From that point on, however, things are about to change.
Director Lenny Abrahamson is an Irish filmmaker who caused indie waves in the U.S. in 2014 with Frank, a somewhat inscrutable rock & roll tale about a band whose lead singer permanently wears an oversized fiberglass head. Where that movie fabricated a setup that was avant garde and somewhat inaccessible, Room is totally the opposite. Room details the touching relationship between a parent and her child under difficult circumstances. Here Abrahamson deftly handles the scenario, keeping it from succumbing to the easy extremes of oppressive cruelty or overt sentimentality.
The environment would seem to be fairly restrictive at first, but the claustrophobic setting gives way to a boundless examination of human emotion. I dare say there is surprising nuance in the ways these conversations with Ma and Jake play out. Little 5 year old Jack is the film’s cheerful narrator. As embodied by Jacob Tremblay as her son, he radiates utter naiveté. Completely trusting and sincere, he is a wide eyed innocent. A boy with hair that has never been cut, the source of his strength he says. He has an unexpectedly sunny disposition as he explains his limited understanding of the world to us. It would be an incredible performance for anyone, but particularly impressive coming from such a young actor. He undergoes a transformation of character. That subsequent cognizance is so perfectly realized, I was floored. Brie Larson is no less extraordinary as Ma. At 25, she too registers a surprisingly mature performance as a mother with infinite devotion for her son.
Room is based on the 2010 book of the same name by writer Emma Donoghue. The Irish born-Canadian citizen adapted her own novel to pen the screenplay. In it she has done something quite remarkable. This is a meditation on love, to ponder how a parent takes the best of a bad situation and makes it presentable for their child. Rather than exploit the experience for the obvious emotional pain, she celebrates their close relationship. Impressively it doesn’t succumb to mawkishness either.
There are indeed scenes that pack a wallop, but the feelings are earned organically as the chronicle progresses. I was tearing up at various points throughout, almost sobbing at one point because the intensity of what was happening was too much to bear. As the narrative develops there’s suspense, excitement, tears and joy. I haven’t even revealed a major component of the story. I admire the production’s finely crafted restraint and have acted in kind. However know this, happiness and terror exist side by side. Author Emma Donoghue has found a unique way to detail the tender bond between a mother and her son. Room‘s exploration of love is so heartbreakingly original, it’s cathartic.
10-22-15
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