Every year, there’s a breakout film, usually an independently-produced film, that seemingly comes out of nowhere to take the critics, and appreciative audiences, by storm, emerging as Oscar bait, finally finding itself so ingrained in the Oscar conversation that it goes on to a slew of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominations. In 2015, Room is that film.
Garnering immense positive buzz at the Telluride Film Festival in early September, and going on to win the prestigious People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival — where Room received an unprecedented and wildly enthusiastic 15-minute standing ovation — director Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of Canadian-Irish author Emma Donoghue’s acclaimed best-seller (Ms. Donoghue also wrote the screenplay for the film) opens tonight at VIFF2015, at the gorgeous and inviting Centre for the Performing Arts, in what is sure to be a sold-out screening of the probable recipient of Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (5-year-old local actor Jacob Tremblay will likely become the youngest ever Oscar award nominee), Best Screenplay, and a raft of other accolades, and subsequent Independent Spirit/Gotham and, finally, well-deserved Oscar nominations.
Variety | Justin Chang
The cramped 11-by-11-foot interior of a sealed, sound-proof garden shed isn’t the only thing keeping a boy and his mother prisoner in Room, a suspenseful and heartrending drama that finds perhaps the most extreme possible metaphor for how time, regret and the end of childhood can make unknowing captives of us all.
Indiewire | Eric Kohn, Chief Film Critic | A-
Director Lenny Abrahamson seamlessly translates Emma Donoghue’s masterful work into cinematic terms with his gripping and involving adaptation, the drama owing just as much to its two stars, Brie Larson and newcomer Jacob Tremblay, whose textured, human-scale performances turn distressing circumstance into a credible and tense tale of survival.
Note: Author Emma Donoghue will be in attendance at tonight’s screening of Room to introduce the film, and take part in a Q&A after the screening.
Bring tissues. Get your tickets now. Line up early. See ya tonight, at Room.
