Room

Rating: 5/5

Room is unlike any movie I have ever seen. It is terribly poignant, but remarkably heartwarming and inspiring at the same time. Room is a film that can be very hard to view and even as I watched it for the third time, I found myself with tears in my eyes and my heart pounding as though I had never seen it before.

A bed, a wardrobe, a tub, and a sink; all confined within four walls. This is what Joy/Ma (Brie Larson), and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) are forced to call home and what Jack affectionately calls, Room. Joy, who was kidnapped seven years ago, tries to create a life and a routine for Jack. After Jack has turned five, she tries to explain to him the wonders of the world outside their captivity, but Jack, who has only known Room, refuses to listen at first.

Noticing that Jack is beginning to understand what could exist beyond Room, Joy devises a plan for an escape, if not for the both of them, then at least for Jack. There are dozens of ways the harrowing attempt for rescue could fail, but Joy knows they don't have a choice.

Brie Larson won an Academy Award for her role as Joy/Ma, and there is no question as to why. She brings to life the tormented emotions of a young woman in an unimaginable circumstance, involuntarily turned into a mother, and living in a state of constant fear. Her relationship with Jack is hauntingly genuine, and was most certainly aided by the remarkable performance given by Jacob Tremblay. Tremblay was around eight or nine years old while making Room, yet the skill level he brings to his character far surpasses actors who are at least three times his age. His not being nominated seems like a gross oversight by the Academy Awards Committee.

What makes Room a brilliant movie, is how it uses the concept of less is more. The movie is mostly told through the point of view of Jack, and because of that we are spared the grotesque details of the forced relationship between Joy and her captor. From that perspective, what could have been a film filled only with dark and hopeless emotions, Room becomes a story of survival and redemption.

2016 Best Actress Winner- Brie Larson