Room (2015)

"Room" is an adaption of an internationally best-seller novel written by Irish playwright and novelist, Emma Donoghue. This is her first book to be adapted into a major motion picture and I have to say that it is a rather impressive one. I have not read Emma's novel yet, but I can only guess that this movie sticks to the novel's roots, considering that Emma decided to write the screenplay herself. Room is a story about a women who was kidnapped during her high school years and locked in a shed for 7 years. She was impregnated by her kidnapper in this room and was locked inside with the child. The child grows up and around the age of five is when the movie picks up. Throughout this entire movie we are taken through this story strictly from the Jack's (the child) point of view. Even though this story is experienced through the lens of this child, the story is in no way filtered or gussied up. It is this intimate and raw story about a child and his mother spending a hugely relevant portion of their existence stuck in this dull, dirty and claustrophobia-inducing shed. This shed contained one small window that emits a tiny portion of daylight into the room. To me, this represented a light at the end of the tunnel. Sort of like a tiny glimmer of hope in a deep and dark abyss. Throughout this entire movie, Jack narrates his experiences as he embarks upon the world. Jacob Trembley portrays this character with such a sense of wonder and innocence that every single narration that I hear from this boy is just heartbreaking. Every time Jack takes away something from the world, he takes it in as something new and exciting even if it is scary. They are things that everyone takes for granted everyday: trees, dogs, the sky, etc. You would think that the dramatic climax would be at the beginning when Jack gets out of the tiny room he has been locked in his entire life, but after-wards, this film just drags in one dramatic scene after another in a way that turns this film into one big heartache an experience. I do have say that Jacob Trembley and Allison Brie's performances carry a lot of the weight of this film. Allison gives a very natural and organic performance. You never catch her overacting or being too stiff during any scene in this movie. Jack Trembley gave one of the most, if not the most, impressive performances of the year. Not just because of his age, but because of how well of a dramatic performance that he gives without over or underacting in any of his scenes. He seemed to take his role with a very adult-like seriousness that translated into a lot of the movie's themes of innocence that are chased by the persistent and harsh reality that Jack and his mother are facing. The directing and cinematography in this film are beautiful. The film's intense theme is complimented with a variety of out-of- focus and close up shots that highlight the child's immediate consciousness as he takes the outside world with fresh- eyes. Many of the scenes are also complimented by a beautiful and breathtaking film score composed by the award-winning Stephen Rennicks who has been crafting soundtracks in the indie film world since 1997. Overall, this is a film that I won't be forgetting for the rest of my life. Mainly because it is a film about escaping outside of the room that you have been stuck in your whole life and discovering a world that has been hidden from you. I know that sounds kind of cheesy but this film does it in the most grounded and intense way possible. Not to mention that it is dosed with themes of abandonment, human-kindness, and media exploitation. I don't usually give films a 10/10. As a matter of fact, I could probably count the films this year that I do consider 10s on one hand. The films I consider perfect are life changing in some way or benchmarks in cinematic history. While this film will probably be washed away by the ever expanding ocean that is cinema, it is not a movie that I will be personally ever forgetting. I can't remember watching a film that made me feel so grateful for just being alive.