Few films can capture the essence and feeling that audiences can call an experience. Considering the high critical praise “Room” was receiving, I could not but go into the theatre with high expectations, and what I found in this film was something profound.

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, “Room” is a masterful work of filmmaking that illustrates both the darkness and hope in our world.

Room introduces audiences to the story of a mother, portrayed by Brie Larson,  accompanied by her son, Jack, performed by Jack Tremblay. The haunting twist in all of this is that Jack’s mother has been locked up in a room for seven years, and has raised her son Jack for five years. Despite this dark situation, Jack’s mother hopes that she can give a better future for her son.

This film is an incredible feat of capturing a world where there seems to be no hope. Audiences watch simple routines of Brie Larson taking care of Jack, but the mind boggling thing to see is how Jack reacts to how he is living. He usually plays with his toys like any normal child, but he cannot identify himself with the present world because he’s never seen it.

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay’s chemistry is beautiful and profound. The dialogue between him and his mother is both heartfelt and shocking because it captures the innocence of Jack living in a world that wasn’t forced upon him, but it’s haunting because he lives in a fantasy and can’t believe some of the things that his mother tells him about our world.

The cinematography is a real highlight of the film. The shots of the dark and bleak corridor that we see the main characters struggle in are complemented with diverse and vibrant colors of the real world. I’ve never seen a world with so much color and beauty as in “Room,” emphasizing the beauty that lies in our lives that many take for granted.

Room is not here to tell audiences a depressing story, but a hopeful one about the beauty that lies in our lives–beauty we tend to miss when we sometimes lay at our house absorbed in our phones all day.

I think what  Lenny Abrahamson is telling us through this gloomy place of a room is that life isn’t meant to be lived in isolation. He captures this beautifully with all the production and lighting that went into capturing these scenes.

For me, the effect of “Room” was that I felt like exploring places that I hadn’t bothered to look at or discover. I felt like learning something new. “Room” was a discovery of who I am and the appreciation I felt to actually live; it has the power to be this for any viewer of the film.

If this review sounds too general, it’s only because if anyone plans on seeing this film, they deserve to see it without any spoilers ruining the film. What I will say though is that if you give your attention to it, “Room” can and will show you what the beauty of cinema can do, and how it can reach new heights.