"Room" is a superb film and has the richest tonality palette before two years. Horrifying, without being scary, creeping, but not sentimental, film about I watched Lenny Abrahamson's "Room" shortly after reading the first narrative of Sigismund Krizanovski's book "Itanesees" (boldly referred to as Kafka in Russia). Who would have guessed that there would be such a strong thread between the two works? In the narrative, the character's room is described as a matchbox in which he walks one step forward and one back (diagonal!). One day, a merchant, who offers "quadraturin" - a magical mixture that increases space, distracting the walls, knocks on the door. Once the hero inadvertently pours the contents of the bottle, the nightmare, so to speak, acquires new dimensions. The quiet horror of the sharply increased space is also sneaking into the Abrahamson movie.
"Room" was created by Emma Donahue's eponymous novel and tells of Joy (Brie Larson) and her son Jack (Jacob Trembley) who live as prisoners locked in a 3 × 3-meter room. Joy was kidnapped at 17, and two years later she gave birth to her son, who at the beginning of the film celebrated his five-year birthday (with an improvised cake without candles). The first half hour of the "Room" is heavy and shows the life of the two, the daily rituals, such as the morning greeting of objects, gymnastics in the limited space, cooking of the same and scant food and watching TV. It is very difficult because, apart from the oppressive atmosphere achieved in interesting contrast to the laughter and the love of the two, we still do not know the heroes enough, and we are forced to spend time in the dark and dirty room, witnessing (unlike) unpleasant scenes. I explain all this because people who ignore fast some movies would stop "Room" from the beginning. I advise you to continue (not with the review if you have not seen the movie because the text contains small spoilers). The thing is, Joy and Jack manage to escape. Very early in the movie. And that could last for two hours. Horror, deprivation, the struggle to preserve reason and the pathetic grip of teeth. I do not know if it is in the book, but instead of being "Panic Room" or "Returning" for children, the film shows the consequences of the nightmare. The horror of the bigger room. The one we all live in. Its walls are so far apart that they can not be seen and the space between them is more than enough. But how does it live in this infinite world, without turning your world? Jack is more adaptable because it's more plastic, as the doctor says, but for Joy the trauma is terrible. How do you find meaning, without scolding, how to educate your child without the simple answers the imagination had provided before?
In the constraints there is freedom and contentment. The delusion of ignorance and freedom of fantasy. If you believe that beyond the walls there is nothing but cosmos, and television creates your food through magic (I thought of Hal Ashby's extraordinary "presence"), then you most likely live in the affluence of utopia. "Room" is a much more interesting and deep film than it looks at first sight. It narrates a seemingly ordinary story, sticking to the story of the novel, but at the same time it makes social criticism and affects the general and current psychological problems of our contemporary society. "Room" can unfold on a huge scale, can be analyzed and discover new and new meanings because it is thematically rich and masterfully dealing with the different nuances and consequences of such isolation. But last but not least, this is a film about growing up. Because Jack is the one in the center. He tells you what it feels like to feel the world for the first time. Heaven, wind, trees, another bed, doctors, policemen, journalists. What it's like to collect all pieces of the lego and make sense of yourself and take care of your mother.
I'm glad for Brie Larson, but her performance remains in the shadow of Jacob Tremblay (for whom, I hope, we will still hear). Impressive is how emotionally authentic it may look in so many different scenes, and its ease of play even further enhances the contrast with Brie. It is also great to support William Macy and Joan Allen as Joy's parents who, in very little screen time, have to show the tangle of feelings she has wounded after their daughter's return (with child from the kidnapper). "Room" is a superb film and has the richest tonality palette before two years. Terrifying, without fear, touching, without being sentimental, a film about growing up, maternity, depression, media madness, loneliness, and the raging war in today's anxious heart. Watch Room and leave the door open.