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‘Room’ is the Creepiest Movie of the Year

Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay) live together in a 10 x 10 room with a skylight. Ma has been there for seven years, Jack has been there his whole life. Making the best of a bad situation, the beginning of Room is sweet and fun. Ma and Jack exercise together, make up stories, watch TV, build an “egg snake”, read books… and every Sunday, Jack sleeps in the wardrobe to avoid seeing “Old Nick,” their captor, rape his mother.

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, who also directed the wonderful Frank last year, and from a script by Emma Donoghue and based on her popular novel, Room is likely the scariest movie, and already in my top five, of this year.

Realizing that they’re running out of time, Ma tries to explain to Jack that there is a whole world outside their room and that she was lying when she told him TV was magic. This was such a great scene. Excuse my hyperbole but Jacob Tremblay is the greatest living actor.

What makes Room so unique is that their escape is just the beginning of the story. I always think about that when a movie ends – how do these people adjust to life after whatever scarring plot just happened to them. Here we get to see the weight Ma, whose name is Joy, carries after of seven years in captivity, and get to experience the world through the eyes of a boy whose only life experiences were inside the four walls of Room. Brie Larson is one of my favorite actors and keeps making movies like this, referring specifically to Short Term 12 which garnered some Oscar buzz for her. She does a tremendous job as usual, seeming completely effortless, natural and relatable even when her situation here is so beyond most people’s comprehension.

It’s so, so worth seeing.

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