Love knows no boundaries.
24-year-old Joy and her five-year-old son Jack live in a squalid shed they call Room. They share a bed, toilet, bathtub, television, and rudimentary kitchen; the only window is a skylight. They are captives of a man they call Old Nick, Jack’s father, who abducted Joy seven years ago, and routinely rapes her while Jack sleeps in the wardrobe. She tries to stay optimistic for her son, but is sometimes overcome with depression and is suffering from malnutrition. She allows Jack to believe that only Room and its contents are “real,” and that the rest of the world exists only on television.
Old Nick tells Joy that he has lost his job and threatens that he may not be able to afford their supplies in the future. She decides to tell Jack about the outside world; he reacts with disbelief and incomprehension. She trains him to fake a fever, hoping that Old Nick will take him to a hospital, but Old Nick says he will return with antibiotics.
Joy wraps Jack in a carpet and has him play dead in the hope that Old Nick will remove him from Room. Falling for the ruse, Old Nick places Jack in the back of his pickup truck and drives through a residential neighborhood. Although stunned by his first exposure to the outside world, Jack jumps from the truck and attracts the attention of a passer-by. The police rescue Joy and she and Jack are taken to a hospital.
Joy learns her parents have divorced and that her mother has a new husband, Leo. She returns with Jack to her childhood home where her mother and Leo reside. Her father cannot accept Jack and leaves. Jack initially struggles to adjust to life in the larger world, speaking only to his mother and expressing a desire to return to Room. Joy struggles with anger and depression, arguing with her mother and reacting angrily during a television interview. She attempts suicide and is admitted to a hospital.
Room is a Canadian-Irish drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Emma Donoghue, based on her novel of the same name. The film stars Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, and William H. Macy. Held captive for years in an enclosed space, a woman (Larson) and her 5-year-old son (Tremblay) finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
It has been selected to be shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, after premiering at Telluride Film Festival. The film is scheduled to be released in a limited release on October 16, 2015, before being released nationwide on November 6, 2015, by A24 Films.
Room
Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Brie Larson, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, Megan Park, Amanda Brugel, Kate Drummond, Sean Bridgers, Chantelle Chung
Screenplay by: Emma Donoghue
Production Design by: Ethan Tobman
Cinematography by: Danny Cohen
Film Editing by: Nathan Nugent
Costume Design by: Lea Carlson
Set Decoration by: Mary Kirkland
Art Direction by: Michelle Lannon
Music by: Stephen Rennicks
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Studio: A24 Films
Release Date: October 16, 2015
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