Review of Room (2015) by Meritcoba — 01 May 2016

Oh yes, Room. It has great bits! They shine more than the not so great bits.

The first half of Room is no doubt the strongest part. A young woman, Ma, en her five-year old son, Jack, are locked up in a chamber with no windows, one skylight and one locked metal door. Who are they, why are they there?

The why isn't even the most interesting bit, it is how they get through the day and how they plan to get out of it.

For a moment I was confused about Jack. He looks like a she, so I figured he was actually a she, but Ma had created the pretense she was a he(are you with me?) to protect Jack, but I was a bit too fast in my thinking.

Halfway through the movie the two have escaped and somehow I got the feeling that the movie was about to wind down just to pick up again as to wind down yet again and pick up yet again..and so on. There is intense moment when Ma is interviewed and asked if she shouldn't have let Jack be brought away by her captor when he was just a baby. It doesn't feel like a question, it feels like a judgement.

It is also intensely gripping how she slowly falls apart once she is actually free. A vital part of her life has been stolen from her and it rips her apart now she isn't in the room where the scope of ambition and possibilities is just to get through the day.

However there are some less shinier bits. For brevity I will discuss the most glaring one. This movie feels like there is a deeper meaning behind it all. Is the room a metaphor for life? Are we in a room without windows and the only connection to the rest of the world is a television; a one way communication device that isn't even a reliable representation of the world? The television is a place of wonder for Jack and Ma has to explain to him that some things are real(which Jack seems to find strange) and some are not(which he finds to strange as well). The world is larger than Room, but Jack has a hard time to believe it. The metaphor creeps up again when the subject of suicide crops up. Did ma not consider it? Is the Room life from which we can escape by committing suicide? Neither the metaphor nor suicide are addressed. The movie focuses on the drama.

Room is a gripping tale of a young woman and her young son in a serious predicament and its aftermath. It has two powerful acting performances by Brie Larson as Ma and Jacob Tremblay as Jack. That alone is worth a look. Any deeper meaning however seems lost in the telling of the tale, but perhaps I just missed it. But since I did I give it a eight only. Correct me if I am wrong.