Ma, as a teen-ager, was abducted and held against her will by the man (Sean Bridgers, “Trumbo”) who kidnapped her year ago. Jack, to state the horrifically obvious, is Old Nick’s son – a child born of rape who may be Ma’s only chance of salvation. It’s not the most pleasant story to watch, but it’s a powerful, unsettling experience that you won’t forget anytime soon. Based on a novel by Emma Donaghue and scripted by the author herself, it’s one of those films that’s best experienced knowing as little as possible about it going in.
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“But just sobbing uncontrollably, convulsions, sobbing, shaking and I didn’t know why and I remembered thinking, ‘It’s like when my toy is taken away from me.’ And I didn’t realize until many years later that my father had asked for a divorce and that’s why we had moved to Los Angeles [from Sacramento] and she was dealing with it completely alone, but had created this world of imagination with me and my sister”. In that enclosure, Ma and Jack have their reading classes, he draws, he watches TV, he exercises, he runs “track” (from wall to wall, on Ma’s instruction), eats his vitamins, and must brush his teeth before bed.
The scenes in which she pops Jack’s contented bubble by telling him about the outside world – and her plan to get them out – fairly roil with tension.
When in a televised interview a reporter suggests Joy might have been selfish in keeping Jack and not getting Old Nick to leave him at a hospital, it shifts the focus back to the central pair – and the survival story that gives Room its fascination.
The room weighs down Ma at times, but not Jack, who constantly finds things to be fascinated by, including the sun streaming in through the skylight, the shadows it makes, the vapour of his breath on a cold day, the screams they direct at the skylight and a vent for “aliens” to hear, or an unbelievable afternoon when a mouse finds its way in for bits of his cake.
Don’t miss the Fashion Police Screen Actors Guild Awards special Monday at 8 p.m. only on E! Jack, however has no idea about all this, and continues to live his life with his mom in Room. The rest, dealing with their life in the world outside, is more predictable, more practical.
“They just laugh about it”, he said. The movie’s Oscar nominations include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Larson) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Tremblay deserves a category of his own.
