Room | Film review - Brie Larson & Jacob Tremblay rise above harrowing confinement

Room Jacob Tremblay Brie Larson.jpg

Held prisoner for seven years in an 11ft by 11ft space with a single skylight, a young mother strives to protect and nurture her five-year-old son in Room, the gripping, moving and profoundly thought-provoking drama adapted by Emma Donoghue from her bestselling 2010 novel.

A well-deserved Best Actress Oscar winner, Brie Larson is heartbreakingly good as the 24-year-old Ma, first shielding her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) from the harrowing reality of their captivity by ‘Old Nick’, and then trying to prepare him for an outside world of which he has no conception when the possibility of escape arises.

Eight-year-old Tremblay is remarkable, too, as the bright, inquisitive, resilient Jake, while director Lenny Abrahmson (What Richard Did, Frank) does a superb job of creating riveting cinema out of his film’s cramped, claustrophobic setting.

Certificate 15. Runtime 118 mins. Director Lenny Abrahamson

Room is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from 9th May from StudioCanal.

Extras:

Audio Commentary with director Larry Abrahamson ‘Making of’ featurette ‘Eleven by Eleven’ featurette ‘Cast & Crew’ featurettes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Ci-pAL4eE

Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.