BPL Movie Review: "Room"

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William B Anthony | Collection Management Department 

With the Academy Awards season just around the corner  for movies (April 25, 2021), this is a great time to revisit one of the best-reviewed films released within the past 10 years. That movie is Room, a 2015 award-winning film based on the 2010 novel written by Emma Donoghue. 

Donoghue also wrote the screenplay for this emotionally-heavy indie film. Her perspective breathes resilience into a tortured mother who copes with and rises above her imprisonment in a perpetrator’s backyard. The light in this movie’s darkness shines through her son with an imagination more vast than the whole world. Their relationship carries the story effortlessly. 

If Room starred only the main protagonist, an abused mother, and her son, it would still be just as powerful as it actually is. The trauma of abuse can be an uncomfortable topic for some viewers. However, Room never completely abandons hope because the film’s darkest moments still strive toward a resolution that rewards our patience and challenges our understanding of dealing with hardship. 

For five years, Ma, played by Brie Larson, and Jack, played by Jacob Tremblay, have lived in complete isolation away from any suburban neighborhoods or big cities because Ma was kidnapped and raped by a sadistic man known as Old Nick. One room is their peeping hole for the seemingly normal life outside of their prison, which is a garden shed. 

This home encompasses their identity, especially for a five-year-old living in such an unbearable place. Jack treats all of the furniture such as the sink, the chairs, the bathtub, and his bed as his friends. He thinks everyone on TV is actually flat. He even tries to befriend a mouse that could steal his food.

Jack’s perception of reality is compromised by a fantasy that is flawed by the claustrophobia of his home. Yet, his lack of space does not prevent him from learning as much as he can. Tremblay conveys an eagerness that makes him appear as if he wants to go deeper into Jack’s mind. His innocent, curious imagination gives him an optimistic personality, even though he seems oblivious about the abuse that his mother has endured. 

Portraying a child with such an unusual but fascinating psyche is a demanding task. Tremblay complements Larson’s incredible performance with restlessness that transitions well into the second half of Room. Ma and Jack grow as a leading duo because Tremblay and Larson read each other with such understanding that I felt as if I could read their minds. I am able to hurt for them, even when they get everything they want. 

Brie Larson excels at displaying the best reactions. She overcomes adversity while adjusting to a new and much desired life. Her role as Ma is gripping, and Larson deserves all the praise and awards, including the Oscar for Best Actress, that she has received for this performance in 2016. 

She trembles with frustration and clenches her teeth while explaining the real world to Jack and how it is nothing like their room. Her eyes bulge out of fear while tricking Old Nick into carrying out Jack, who is pretending to be dead, in rolled up carpet.

Her plan at escaping succeeds and fulfills a second chance at not only motherhood but her well-being too. She feels guilty about her abduction. It is evident in her grimace while arguing with her father about accepting his grandson. She lashes out at her mother about how often she lets Jack use an iPhone instead of playing with a LEGO set. 

Her tone in these situations comes across as resentful, but she just wants what is best for her son. This weight is felt through her pained countenance. She is still suffering internally, but her son provides the redemption that she wants. When Ma ends up in the hospital, Jack asks his grandmother to cut his long lock of hair and give it to his mom for strength. 

Their relationship feels more real because Tremblay knows how to comfort Larson’s character as a curious but still somewhat naïve child. There is no conviction in a character’s motive if he or she does not appropriately react to what they are witnessing. 

Ma and Jack hit the right temperature for all of their expressions without overacting or underacting. A sense of place can evoke both nostalgia and fear from the memories that we have from watching a movie. 

Room personifies the confines of a home without compromising the adjustments that Ma and Jack make to what the world is like outside of a garden shed. The final shot brings closure on regret and celebrates the peace of mind that everyone wants. Liberation from confinement reminds them of how far they have come from abuse to desired normalcy. 

The tension that eventually blossoms into peace makes this book-to-movie adaptation one of the most important films of the 2010s. 


Click here for a movie trailer of Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Ci-pAL4eE
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