Better In Your Head?--ROOM

 

Spoiler Alert: don't worry about it.

THE BOOK-Written by Emma Donaghue, released 2010 

THE MOVIE-Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, written by Emma Donaghue, released 2015

THE STORY-For seven years, Ma and Jack have lived in "Room"--a fortified garden shed owned by a vile sociopath known as "Old Nick." Ma keeps herself and her son fit and vigilant, determined to make a home of hell until their escape.

MIND THE GAP-Odious as the 11'x11' life must've been, the transition into the outside world--and all that pesky freedom--brings new difficulties. For young Jack, born two years into his mother's imprisonment, the struggles are especially taxing. He knows only what was in "Room." 

Motherhood. Is any other role so simultaneously sanctified and second-guessed, so placed in Lucite and under a microscope?

The book tells the story through Jack's eyes. Frankly, this irritated me. At the start. And all throughout. It's enough he anthropomorphizes every object, and obsesses over his "Silly Penis." But counting thrusts as his mother is raped...okay, Ma shelters Jack, Jack shelters reader? No, I didn't need all the grisly details, but I would've appreciated not being treated like a pastel egg shell. 

Ma was abducted on her way to the library. If only women would stop walking outside alone! We must do better, sisters.

If the majority of Room covered their captivity and climaxed with their escape, I'd-a bid the book oodles of toodles a hundred pages in, maximum.

Emma Donaghue wrote the screenplay before the novel was published. Confidence!

BETTER IN YOUR HEAD-The film does the first half best--the sparse narration is still more cutesy than cutting, but letting the visuals tell the majority of the story is a massive improvement. The book handles the second half best--unsurprising, since most novels do nuance better than most movies. The film also drops numerous uncomfortable subjects (stillbirth, adoption, religious faith, breastfeeding--why is this culture so weirded out by breasts not bared for the purpose of sexual titillation?). Usually, such excisions are to the adaptation's lethal detriment. But when we're talking the difference between a freckled banana and runny pudding. And just like that banana remains pleasingly edible, Room the movie features some great performances.

Jacob Trembley is thankfully unpretentious as Jack. Joan Allen is a superb adoring grandmother. Brie Larson, as Ma, absolutely deserved her Oscar. There's no one scene that best exemplifies her brittle scaffolding. Forever, Ma will bear the burden of traumas prevalent yet distinctive. Larson, to her eternal credit, makes the audience respect this pain.