2016 Oscar Predictions – Best Picture

Cinema usher Beckie Stewart tells us why she backs Room for the Best Picture gong at this year’s Oscars.

Lenny Abrahamson’s Room is, no doubt, this year’s underdog for the Best Picture Oscar. Considering half the film is shot within the tight parameters of a room in which a woman (Brie Larson) and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) are being held in a captive stronghold, there isn’t much scope for spectacular panoramas and landscapes; no space for the thrilling action typical of Best Picture nominees.

But it is exactly these restrictions that enable Room and its subtlety. In its non-sensationalist approach to its subject matter, the screenwriting avoids all cliché, denying a fetishistic or indulgent portrayal of suffering. Rather, the long camera angles and shots from five-year-old Jack’s point-of-view allow us to explore the domestic and ordinary space of his and his mother’s captivity.

Seeing the world through Jack’s filter of childish play and imagination instils a sense of hope in the film. This is bolstered by terrific casting for what is essentially a two-hander, with Larson and Tremblay embodying one of the most credible mother-and-son on-screen bonds.

Room is also profound in its emotional complexity. Both characters are fraught with nuanced ideas of what it is to be captive and what it means to be free, and it is this very human uncertainty and vulnerability that makes Room one of the best films this year.

Click here to read more about Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and to find out about current screenings. Want to find who else our ushers are backing at the Oscars? Click to read their choice for Best ActorBest Director and Best Actress.

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