Can't find anything to fault the performances. Similarly 'Room' is written with effortless skill and deft thoughtfulness. A directing job that's both unsettling and empathetic. 'Room' is beautifully directed by someone who understood how claustrophobic thrillers worked, how mother and son bonds do in dire situations do and the ability to combine both to ensure a powerful experience. Production values are effectively claustrophobic and the nocturnal parts chillingly nightmarish. Also appreciated that none of the characters were painted too black and white, even Old Nick. And shine through it does, with great charm and poignancy. What 'Room' also strongly benefitted from being told this way was that the mother and son relationship was able to shine through and really resonate, which it may not have done as effectively with a heavier tone. However, loved how the story was told and its approach. For my tastes too, though it probably did fit the film's younger and more innocent viewpoint it's told from, the music score does lay it on too thick with the treacle.
It does though affect some of the pacing in the middle act, where a little of the tension seen in especially the first part is lost a little. Really appreciated the careful and restrained approach to the storytelling in 'Room', and for me and many others it was something different considering the subject. The source material, equally brilliant, is to be thanked here, its author Emily Donoghue adapts it to screen here and none of its power is lost. There is even an innocence in 'Room', due to its very fascinating decision to tell it from the viewpoint of a five year old, in this case Jack, one that comes off very movingly and gives a sense that there is a little ray of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. What could have easily have been told in a lurid, gratuitous way (being inspired by the true-life case of Josef Fritzl) is instead told in a careful and restrained way. A film with a difficult subject, that is the stuff of nightmares, but tells it so beautifully with an interesting approach that works better than all the potential traps that films of its genre could fall under.
That review summary may sound very oxymoronic, but to me it applies to a film such as 'Room'.
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