It’s a story we’ve heard a hundred times, and one that consistently shocks and horrifies: a woman held captive against her will, forced into slavery, held for years before she finally gains her freedom.
Yet these stories rarely happen in suburban Ohio. And there isn’t usually a child involved, born into captivity and kept with his mother.
Room is the story of 24-year-old Joy (Brie Larson) and her five-year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) who are held in a one-room garden shed behind a locked metal door. Joy followed a man they call “Old Nick” to his house seven years before when he convinced her his dog was sick, and he visits regularly to deliver meager groceries before raping her.
With unblinking close-up shots and patient unspooling of their story, the camera brings us into Joy and Jake’s tiny space, showing us the stained bathtub and single skylight in “Room,” their exercise routines and survival techniques, the stories Joy tells Jack to give him a sense of normalcy, and the thin line Joy herself is walking between survival and hopelessness. Eventually, desperation will gain the upper hand, and Joy will use Jacob to attempt an escape from Room.
Actress Brie Larson won the Academy Award for Best Actress this past Sunday, and her breathtaking performance is fully deserving. She conveys the blandly normal boredom as well as the fierce, self-sacrificing love that every mother feels, but also combines it with the unique terror and determination required of her in her forced captivity. Room was nominated for three other Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Lenny Abrahamson, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Emma Donoghue (author of the original novel, Room, on which the movie is based).
“It was surprisingly successful in making me care about the plight of the characters,” says moviegoer Elliott. “Also, although it is based on a novel, it was reminiscent of so many stories I’ve read in the news. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on random garden sheds now!”
Room has been named one of the top 10 movies of the year on over 60 critics’ lists, but the movie is worth seeing for Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning performance alone. See movie times for Room here.
Room
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen
Run time: 1 hr 58 min
Rated: Rated R for for language
