Film festival releases family drama ‘Room’

David Seely/Staff Writer

Although it first premiered at the Telluride Film Festival way back in September 2015, Lenny Abrahamson’s suspenseful family drama Room has finally been given a wide release in the United States for movie fans all across the country to properly enjoy.

The film is based on Emma Donoghues novel of the same name and was written by the author herself. It tells the story of a 24-year-old mother Joy and her 5-year-old son Jack who are being held captive in a tiny, makeshift shed that they call Room.

This is all that Jack knows about the world as he was born inside Room and has never left, the only signs of life outside are a tiny skylight and the television they are allowed to watch.

Their captor is actually Jack’s father who abducted Joy when she was teenager and repeatedly raped her while holding them captive inside the secret shed attached to his house.

A week after Jack’s fifth birthday Joy believes he is now old enough to help them escape their desperate and horrifying situation.

Since the films premiere and its subsequent limited release, Room has been sweeping up awards quicker than they can be given out.

The movie has garnered four Academy Award nominations, and this wider release makes sense as a way to get this low budget film more exposure leading up to Oscar night.

After struggling to find her place among Hollywood’s more prominent actresses early in her career, Brie Larson takes her role of a lifetime to new heights and firmly plants herself as someone who won’t be denied any longer.

Following television stints on shows like Community and United States of Tara, and supporting movie roles such as Amy Schumers sister in Trainwreck, the 26 year old Larson has already won the Golden Globe and SAG best actress awards on her way to an inevitable Oscar win.

The stark and heartbreaking way in which Larson plays Joy as a mother who refuses to give up fighting for her and her son is a performance that deserves its universal praise, but it’s newcomer Jacob Tremblay’s work as Jack that really takes the film to another level.

Casting child actors are always one of the most difficult aspects of production, especially when the character is such a prominent part of the story.

The film almost entirely rests on the tiny shoulders of Jacob but he knocks it out of the park with incredible tenderness and emotional range.

The movie as a whole can be looked at in a number of different ways. You may look at it as a classic crime thriller containing of all the conventional ideas of kidnapping, torture, and eventual escape attempts. But when you look deeper into the meaning of the story you start to think about “Family” and what that word actually means to all of us.

The types of emotions that can be conjured up when thinking about our families can sometimes be overwhelming but there is a comfort that I believe each of us finds in realizing the true meaning of the word and how it fits into our lives.

Jack knows nothing about the real world up until the age of 5, but then again, which one of us really knew anything when we were that young?

As horrifying as their situation is, you can certainly make parallels to other types of situations and how you might’ve grown up to escape a “Room” of your own. Through clever storytelling and fascinating characters “Room” continues finding success because of its connection to anyone still finding a path to true happiness.

Room is now playing at a Theater near you.

 

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