#REVIEW: “ROOM”

Fans of Emma Donoghue‘s novel Room have much to look forward to in this Film adaptation by Irish Filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson, premiering at TIFF ’15 last month.Proving to be the sleeper hit of the festival, going on to win the People’s Choice Award, now is your chance to enjoy the Film that is winning hearts throughout the festival circuit, while at the forefront in the Awards Season race.

Centering on Ma (Brie Larson) and her five-year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), we quickly realize something is unusual within the confines of their cramped living space, lit by only a skylight. Little by little, pieces of the puzzle are unveiled and we realize they are being held captive in a small gardening shed, accessibly only by Old Nick (Sean Bridgers). Determined for her and her son to escape, Ma is eager to plot a way out, but is being free in the real world necessarily the end of their worries?

Many will be surprised by how heartfelt a story Room is and it is unafraid to go to dark places in exploring more the aftermath of a young woman abducted from an otherwise normal life and even more, the difficulty of re-integrating back to society again. We take for granted some things which are second nature to us and Jack‘s immersion into the real world as a child is even more fascinating a journey.

Larson and Tremblay both are a real revelation in ROOM – deserving completely of all the buzz – and many will come away genuinely affected by their outstanding performances, not to mention a wonderful Joan Allen as Ma‘s Mother. The mother-son chemistry between Larson and Tremblay is both complex and heartbreakingly-beautiful.

Elevation Pictures release ROOM, out now in Toronto and everywhere Friday, November 6, 2015.