Room (Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, Sean Bridgers) – Oscar buzz abounds for Room, a disturbing little film about a mother (Ma) and son forced to live in a one-room shed for the first five years of this boy’s life. While the audience isn’t sure exactly why the two are ensconced (at least for the first 45 minutes of the movie) in “room,” watching the interplay of the young woman (Brie Larson) and the amazingly normal boy (Jacob Tremblay) is heartwarming.
Act I all takes place in “Room” with the only other character being an occasional visitor, a man named Old Nick (Sean Bridgers). The world that Ma creates for the boy is real to him and bigger than any of us can imagine but she is finding it hard to keep herself together. Act II takes place after she and boy enter the real world. This film has 15 exceptional minutes that occur at the beginning of the second act but I don’t want to give more away. Act III is the settling into real life, the way each of them adapts to normalcy.
An exceptional performance by Joan Allen as the girl’s mother and a cameo by William H. Macy as her father punctuate the last hour of the film. These two played husband and wife in Pleasantville and seem perfectly well estranged on screen here.
I don’t want to give too much away so I won’t comment more on the story. The film is a character study that is surprisingly relevant given events of the past couple of years. That said, this film is not as good as the hype. Brie Larson, whose career has been largely in TV and small parts in films, may be the real deal and shows promise. Jacob Tremblay, the young boy whose long hair makes him look like a girl for the first part of the movie, is tremendous as the latest in a series of kids who are amazingly talented to the point of being almost unreal.
The movie feels just a bit contrived and over-directed. While the half of the movie is slow (maybe on purpose), the ending is satisfying so audiences will like it, that is, if you don’t fall asleep. Room just opened this week in selected cities so watch for it. It has won a few film festival awards, including the People’s Choice Award in Toronto.