ROOM (15)
5 stars
Home is where the broken hearts are. In Lenny Abrahamson’s riveting drama, based on the book of the same name by Emma Donoghue, a twentysomething mother and her child are imprisoned in a shed that has been their home since she was abducted at the age of 17.
Canadian author Donoghue was inspired to pen this harrowing family portrait in response to the Josef Fritzl case.
Her skilful screen adaptation loses none of the raw emotional power, thanks to two blistering central performances.
Brie Larson is sensational as the kidnapped parent, who has sacrificed everything to protect her child from what lies beyond the locked door that opens once a week when their captor delivers limited food and provisions in exchange for sexual favours.
She conveys her character’s years of suffering in heartrending glances.
Equally impressive is seven-year-old Jacob Tremblay as the boy trapped in a living nightmare beyond his comprehension.
The emotional depth and maturity of his portrayal is jaw-dropping.
There’s no hint of stage school artifice or cuteness that might break the grim spell conjured by Abrahamson; it’s the best performance by a child actor since Anna Paquin in The Piano.
From the moment he was born, Jack (Tremblay) has known only the four walls and skylight of the squalid single room he shares with his Ma (Larson).
Every day when he wakes, Jack cheerfully addresses the furniture in his makeshift home.
“Morning, lamp, morning, rug, morning, wardrobe,” he chirps, while his mother prepares a meagre bowl of cereal.
The boy is blissfully unaware that Ma was abducted as a teenager by a man called Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), who is holding them hostage.
Despite her ordeal, Ma protects Jack from sickening reality as best she can. A television is their only outlet to the outside world that the boy might never see.
“Where do we go when we dream?” asks Jack.
“We’re always here,” replies Ma, “in Room.”
After years of suffering, Ma concocts a daring plan to get Jack away from Old Nick and hopefully into the arms of her parents, Robert (William H. Macy) and Nancy (Joan Allen).
If the escape bid fails, however, the repercussions are unthinkable.
Room unfolds largely through the eyes of Jack and, by adopting his innocent perspective, director Abrahamson navigates some choppy emotional waters with sensitivity and skill.
The onscreen partnership of Larson and Tremblay galvanises every frame, but this is an embarrassment of riches in front of and behind the cameras.
Donoghue’s script is masterful. The wonderfully simple yet evocative production design induces a sense of choking claustrophobia that has us biting our nails down to the cuticles in the hope that Jack at least might wriggle free of Old Nick’s iron grasp.
THE REVENANT (15)
4 stars
If film awards were bestowed for dogged determination and perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, The Revenant would sweep next month’s Oscars.
Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu chose to shoot his sprawling historical epic in chronological order using natural light.
These bold aesthetic choices limited filming to just a couple of hours each day and when Mother Nature decided to withhold snow from the unforgiving Canadian wilderness, the entire production moved to Argentina at considerable expense.
Actor Tom Hardy was forced to drop out of the comic book adventure Suicide Squad to accommodate the extended filming schedule, the budget ballooned and one crew member famously described the mood on set as “a living hell”.
Trials and tribulations behind the scenes haven’t tarnished Inarritu’s audacious vision, because The Revenant is a tour de force of technical brio and emotionally cold storytelling.
It’s not a journey into the heart of darkness for the sentimental or faint of heart.
Explosions of violence are graphic and a horrifying bear attack early in the film unfolds in a single, unbroken take that shreds our nerves beyond repair.
Leading man Leonardo DiCaprio puts himself through the wringer for his art.
In one stomach-churching scene, the fervent vegetarian eats a wild bison’s liver on camera because the role demands it.
Such unswerving dedication makes him a deserved frontrunner for an Academy Award – and has just earned him a Golden Globe.
He plays 19th-century explorer Hugh Glass, who guides a team of fur trappers and hunters under the command of Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson).
The men come under attack from Native Americans led by tribal chief Elk Dog (Duane Howard), whose daughter Powaqa (Melaw Nakehk’o) has been kidnapped.
The interlopers flee for their lives and Glass is subsequently injured in a mauling from a grizzly bear, which is protecting its cubs.
Henry leaves behind two men, Fitzgerald (Hardy) and Bridger (Will Poulter), to tend to Glass and his son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), while the rest of the trappers head for safety.
“Glass is to be cared for . . . as long as necessary,” orders the Captain, “and a proper burial when it’s time. He’s earned that.”
Fitzgerald decides to expedite matters by killing Hawk and dragging Glass’s near lifeless body into a freshly dug grave.
The explorer regains consciousness some time later and vows to hunt down the men who killed his boy.
“I ain’t afraid to die,” growls Glass, “I done it already.”
The Revenant is a gruelling two-and-a-half hours in the company of a filmmaker who refused to compromise.
Aided by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, Birdman), Inarritu conjures a nightmarish and unflinching vision of a grieving father’s revenge mission.
DiCaprio is mesmerising, dragging his wounded body across frozen landscapes before locking horns with Hardy’s scowling rival in an adrenalin-pumped climax that leaves us gasping for air.