Room (2015)

A young woman (Brie Larson) kidnapped 7 years ago and raped by her captor is imprisoned in a small room with her 5 year old son (Jacob Tremblay), the result of being the captor's sex slave with only a skylight to indicate there's an outside world. To the boy, the room is the world and everything he sees on TV isn't real. But soon reality will be thrust upon him. Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue (who also wrote the screenplay), nothing you've read about Lenny Abrahamson's shattering film will prepare you for the emotional rollercoaster ride. At turns, disturbing, affirming, ugly and beautiful, the movie touches on so many issues that it's amazing that it doesn't overextend itself. Larson's performance is generating a lot of Oscar buzz (and justifiably so) but young Tremblay gives one of the best child performances I've seen. Abrahamson eschews the tabloid sensationalism that such material could easily engender. One of the very best films I've seen this year and highly recommended but don't read too much about it. With Joan Allen in a strong performance as Larson's mother, William H. Macy, Wendy Crewson and Tom McCamus.