Room

This review may contain spoilers!

This film has one of the greatest performances by a child actor that I've ever seen. I would give Room a 7.5/10.

What I really enjoyed about the perspective of this film's story was that it was entirely from the young boy, Jack's, point of view; this opened up a story about kidnapping the likes of which has never really done before. The coping mechanism and the way Jack has come to understand his surroundings is really incredible and some really inspired writing. The cinematography for this film captures the perspective of a small and ofteen scared or confused kid really well, many of the angles are at the height of a child and play with focus to display Jack's panicked or confused state. The score for this film is really touching and quite powerful, it brings a lot of emotion into an already powerful film.

Brie Larson, who played Ma, is such a great actress in this film; you really feel her character breaking under the incredible physical and mental strain of being a prisoner. Wendy Crewson, who played Talk Show Hostess, brought a very interesting perspective to the film; she asked questions that you never really thought of due to the narrative of the film but actually made you question some of the decisions made by Larson's role. Amanda Brugel, who played Officer Parker, was quite a heroic yet grounded figure in this film; I liked that Brugel brought a character who was intuitive and able to use small pieces of information to track down 'room'. Joan Allen, who played Nancy, really showed the impact the kidnapping had on those left behind well; the scene in which she cuts Tremblay's hair is one of the best of the film. William H. Macy, who played Robert, brought a very unique perspective to the film; his distaste for Jack being the son of his daughter's kidnapper was an interesting moment in the film and I wish they'd touched on it more.

However the best performance came from Jacob Tremblay, who played Jack. I cannot stress how amazed I am by this kid, he delivered a better performance than what I've seen from multiple experienced actors in other roles. I think seeing Tremblay play up the imbalances of a child's mood from curiosity to shyness to anger. Ultimately what makes this performance so good is that Tremblay portrays the psychology of a child who's grown up in a small room and suddenly exposed to the greater world really well.

After the two main characters escape 'room' the plot focusses upon their adjustment and rehabilitation into the world, this is where the plot slows right down to a crawl. While there are some good scenes and fantastic examples of acting in the second half of the film the writing clearly trails off a bit. The editing for this film isn't very good, there were quite a few questionable cuts and transitions.

Sean Bridgers, who played Old Nick, isn't a very convincing antagonist in this film; Bridgers is barely intimidating and his character is all over the place. Cas Anvar, who played Dr. Mittal, has very little screen presence in this film; frankly Anvar's role is quite a technical one and doesn't put much effort into making them feel like much of a person.