It feels like it’s only a matter of time until Brie Larson becomes a household name. The actress did excellent work on Showtime’s United States of Tara before jumping to the big screen with solid supporting turns in The Spectacular Now and 21 Jump Street as well as a stellar lead performance in Short Term 12 that should have put her squarely in the Oscar mix. Larson hasn’t quite broken big yet – but the first trailer for Lenny Abrahamson’s award-tipped captivity drama Room tells me she’s about to.
The actress stars in the adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel as Ma, a woman who is imprisoned in a 10-foot by 10-foot shed that she refers to as Room. Raising her young son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) within Room’s narrow confines, Ma ekes out a bearable existence for his sake – but she knows that if he’s to have a chance at a good life, they must escape.
Joan Allen and William H. Macy co-star, but this feels like Larson’s movie through and through. The teaser does a great job of building suspense and emotion even as Ma speaks in hushed, nurturing tones to her son. “Do you remember how Alice wasn’t always in Wonderland?” She asks her son. “Well I wasn’t always in Room.”
Room should be a revelatory vehicle for both Larson and Abrahamson. She’s expected to end up in the Best Actress race this year, which should broaden her fan base before she leads 2017’s Kong: Skull Island with Tom Hiddleston. As for the director, he last helmed the endearingly quirky and complicated Frank, about a musician (Michael Fassbender) who hides his face beneath a papier mache mask. Room is a slightly more mainstream venture, and if Abrahamson pulls it off, expect him to become very in demand.
Room is screening in the Toronto Special Presentations and will come to theaters on October 16.
