Jack and I really liked this story of a five-year-old boy, also named Jack, born in captivity to the man who abducted and raped his mother and have kept them locked in a shed ever since (I take issue with "the boy's father"). Young Jacob Tremblay is tremendous as Jack. He's now nine and no newcomer to cameras, though new to me, and Brie Larson (last blogged in Trainwreck) is magnificent as his "Ma."
Screenwriter Emma Donoghue, an Irishwoman living in Canada, adapted her own 2010 best-selling novel of the same name in her feature debut for the project directed by fellow Irishman Lenny Abrahamson. Donoghue was inspired to write the book by the 2008 case of Elisabeth Fritzl, who was held captive and raped by her own father in Austria.
It's no spoiler to say that they get out and that it's all pretty harrowing to watch. In the second act, outside the Room, we have Joan Allen (some of my favorites of her work are Nixon (1995) where she played Pat, The Ice Storm (1997), Pleasantville (1998), The Contender (2000), Off the Map (2003), and The Upside of Anger (2005)--she was Oscar-nominated for Nixon, The Crucible (1996), and The Contender) and William H. Macy (most recently in The Wind Rises) as Ma's parents.
The soundtrack by Stephen Rennicks is lovely and some of it can be previewed here. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are agreeing with us this time, averaging 97% and 95, respectively.
The movie is racking up awards and nominations. See my running list for this year.
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