WOW what an amazingly powerful film!

I cannot remember that last time a film had quite such a deep emotional impact on me, delivered through characters that felt so real, battling against the odds to emerge broken but bowed.

The two leads give amazingly subtle, nuanced performances, and I think it's a travesty that Jacob Temblay doesn't have an Oscar nomination.

Much of the power of the film comes from the choices the screenwriter makes, adapting her own novel, steering clear of the thriller aspects and focusing on the human impacts and the way the characters cope. It also has a fairly unusual structure so is great to watch as a writer.

I hope this does well at the Oscars but think it may lose out to flashier films, shame, but it is definitely worth seeing!

Anthony      

Been avoiding it... but I'll check it out some time, if only from a professional standpoint. It sounds like it will be a chick flick, but I bet I end up loving it.

Definitely not a chick flick mate!

Been a huge fan of Lenny Abrahamson's work for a while now. 'What Richard Did' is one of my favourite films from the past 10 years. Cannot wait to check this out.

Huge Abrahamson fan. Kind of a little bit proud that he's getting all this recognition, and rightly so.

Film looks great. Just got the book though. For those that have seen it, what do you think? Read first? Or watch first?

Well I've not read the book, but the author has adapted it into the screenplay and just got an Oscar nomination for it... so think you'll be okay either which way ;-)

I wanted to see something more edgy. Movie was fine. I'm sure there will be a ton of people that would love it. It was good.

Exceptional film. Really powerful, and every element was great - the performances, cinematography (how Room seemed to grow in Jack's mind when the camera followed him, but in later scenes seemed so much smaller when Ma was the focus), the score...

I was really struck by the simple yet fundamental choice to centre the story around Jack. This could have been an Eli Roth-style film about a woman in captivity, full of screaming, violence, etc - I think there's an Elisha Cuthbert film about that - which while probably entertaining to some, would have been limited in its impact. Placing a five year old in the centre of it - with his view of the world, and later confusion towards what's happening - makes it about so much more: love, healing, imagination, reality... There's a lesson for us as writers there, find a unique angle and your story may well benefit as a result.

SPOILERS

Also agree with Anthony about the unusual structure - who would have expected them to escape by the midpoint?! And yet again, because the film isn't just a thriller it keeps the tension up by becoming about another form of captivity: can Joy break free of her depression and post-traumatic stress, and find a way back to her son? Or will he actually end up being far more alone than he ever was? The second half is as engrossing and high stakes as the first because WE CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. I definitely learned something from watching it.

I'm not a massive fan of guru's and thos who insist that a script must be structure in a certain way, be it STC, Heroes Journey or any of the other models out there...

The following hit my Inbox from Robert Mckee about the Oscar nominated 'Room'.


Genre Switching:
The first half of ROOM gives us a subgenre of the Crime Plot known as the Prison Plot, an action/thriller told from a prisoner's POV as the protagonist struggles against a villainous warden. Examples: MISERY and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, both created by Stephen King.

The second half of ROOM turns to an Evolution Plot. This genre arcs its protagonist's humanity or inner self from negative to positive. In this film, Joy (Brie Larson), suffering from PTSD, moves from a damaged self to a healed self. Examples: The TV series IN TREATMENT, the novels of Tim O'Brien such as Northern Lights, and the films ORDINARY PEOPLE, SOPHIE'S CHOICE, and MYSTIC RIVER.

Why has ROOM's writer strung together two simple, shallow, half-stories, rather than create one profound, complex, complete story? My guess...creative inertia.

If Joy's escape plan had failed, and Nick (Sean Bridgers) had locked her and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) back inside the shed, then to engineer Joy's ultimate escape from such cramped sparse space, the storytelling would have demanded ingenious yet credible writing, powered by a gifted imagination. Then the rest of the film would be the author answering the riveting dramatic dilemma: "Will Joy and Jack escape this maniac's hell-hole? And if so, how in the world will she do it?"  

On the other hand, had the film opened with Joy and Jack escaping the shed, then their Evolution Plots would have called for superb creativity of another kind: brilliant psychological insight into the intricacies of PTSD, along with subtle delineations of human nature under mind-breaking pressures. The major dramatic questions now become: "Will Joy and Jack find the inner resources needed to repair their damaged psyches? And if so, how?"

Hows of story can break an author's back and brain. Some just aren't up to the heavy lifting. ROOM does not work because neither half of the film comes anywhere near its generic potential. When a writer buys a genre, it comes with a tag that reads, "Use me."


So a script that defies conventions, doesn't neatly fit someone's idea of how it should be done and won't neatly sit in one genre is bad...

This is one of the best films I've seen this year and has a fantastic script, well imho.

Guess it backs up my theory that the gurus struggle to accept anything beyond the boundaries of whatever model they are peddling...

Quoted Text Guess it backs up my theory that the gurus struggle to accept anything beyond the boundaries of whatever model they are peddling.

Exactly.

Well - me and the Misses finally watched this.

She loved it.

Me - not so much.

It may be that it's just one of those - I was in the right mind set for this kind of film thing. Or - a greater probability is that I have no culture. Other than the fact she chose me - my wife has great taste - so, she's probably in the majority.

First - no complaint with the acting - top notch. It just wasn't for me.

Old thread but I only just watched this.

I thought it was fantastic. A very emotional film, I actually found it quite hard to watch in certain parts.

Also, how good was the performance by the child actor. I see big things.

Quite forgettable.