Room

Greetings one and all. That's going to be my greeting, it seems like. First off, happy new year! I'm going to dedicate this post to emotional mindsets and the movie, Room. I also would like to note that I've been writing two separate posts prior to this one, a habit that allows me to write in inspired bursts yet prevents me from posting often. There are moments where the writing simply flows from my brain through my fingertips, giving me the drive to write a lot. The structure and wording of this post may be uneven and simple, so bear with me. I have the urge to write after watching Room because it was a film that provoked a waterfall of emotion from me. Beyond loving the movie, it also gave me the chance to be alone with my thoughts and mental demons. Yes, mental demons. The past week of 2016 involved major emotional turmoil that, objectively speaking, is quite meaningless. No traumatic events occurred to invoke these feelings, just my own neurotic (?) and overemotional tendencies. I suppose these feelings make for a better writer. Probably not, since this blog isn't that good. Anyway, here we go.

I'll start by talking about Room. The sole reason I watched the movie was because Brie Larson, the lead actress, will most likely receive the Oscar for Best Actress. In this time of awards season, the movies I set aside time for are nominated features that strike some interest. What I found interesting about Room is that it is about a woman held captive for seven years and her life in a small room with her son, Jack. She is referred to as Ma by her son Jack, who narrates the film in the speech of a five-year-old. The first portion of the movie focuses on their life in the room. Ma nurtures Jack by giving him an alternative childhood, accustomed to their cramped living conditions. Many people, myself included, may find this sequence dull and slow-paced, since it is isolated in a single room and concentrates on only two people. That being said, I was a bit skeptical when the movie started. Interestingly enough, I was captivated by the movie, and this mindset remained with me throughout the course of Room. I won't get into a plot synopsis, so I'll highlight the points of importance in a vague manner. As simple a plot as it sounds, Room had moments of suspense and genuinely heartfelt drama. Their escape from the room--spoiler alert--was incredibly tense and poignant, which is a praise for the skillful director who managed to work in such emotions into the film. The second portion of the film revolves around Ma and Jack adjusting to the real world. While there are many naturalistic scenes in the movie, such as Ma and Jack looking through old photo albums, they all blend into one very real and touching film. Brie Larson's performance was truly breathtaking, so she has my blessing to win the Oscar deservedly. Jacob Tremblay, who plays Jack, gave an incredible performance, as well, capturing the "wild" little boy who was raised in a room and must adapt to the outside world. I could argue that he, too, deserves a nomination. Most child actors follow the same schtick: act cute, but inevitably end up annoying the audience. Instead, Tremblay assumed the role of a child realistically, which allowed him to evoke emotion in viewers and make them love and worry for him. Both performances were excellent in their simplicity, as was the film itself.

Writing movie reviews is difficult, believe it or not. As long as I've been writing them, I never know how much to share or what words to use. Merely using fancy adjectives doesn't seem like enough to truly capture the essence of a film. When I read professional film reviews, all I see are flowery adjectives and exaggerated statements, such as "the film was borderline miraculous." (A little throwback to that ridiculous review of Birdman I read last year.) I feel as though writers cannot help but laud a picture using adjectives and emotion, whether they liked the film or loathed it. Even moviegoers follow the same pattern: "The movie was awesome!" or "That movie sucked, it was so dumb." All reviews, professional or amateur, are just statements of like or dislike. I don't know why I decided to rant about that, but there it is.

I'll keep this post short, since I don't want to save it as a draft and end up posting it next year. Regarding the "emotional mindset" topic I alluded to earlier, I want to express my gratitude to Room for inadvertently letting me release some bottled-up emotions. As I said, this year, so far, has been difficult for me, emotionally speaking. This is mostly because I let some shit from 2015 follow me into the new year, instead of discarding it and starting fresh. Because of this, most of my year involved long periods of crying and remembering things that made me happy. I was actually miserable for the first few days of 2016. I would be sitting in my room doing nothing, which forced me to face my mental demons and they would make me cry. It sounds very childish, much like what Jack would say in Room, but I feel that every person has a child in them. They allow people to feel the giddiness a child feels, as well as the unexplained tears they encounter on a daily basis. It's weird, I'm weird, but that's how I've been feeling. Watching Room helped me see that. In the middle of the movie, I actually paused it to sit in silence and cry. I cried about the things that have been tormenting me since last year and about how they cannot be changed and about how those memories will always be with me. As emotionally soothing it was to watch Room and wipe away the tears the movie provoked, I know I'm not done crying. Life is experiences after experiences, some full of joy, some full of heart-wrenching sorrow. While it is healthy to recall the past from time to time, one must recognize the good in their present and avoid the bad. Staying stuck to the past will only lead to insanity and endless tears because you will come back to the present and realize it's gone. I know I'm getting deep, but Room inspired that.

That took me about twenty minutes to write. I need some quiet solitude in my life, it would make me so much more productive. I'll end this by saying that I am okay. I'm always afraid that I might make my friends and family who read this concerned about me with the stuff I write about. There have been many periods where I was not at all okay, and I recognize those times and try my best to avoid regressing back into old habits. I've cut people out of my life that I know will only hurt me again. I've stopped doing things that make me unhappy in the long run. Now, I stay close to the people I care about and who care about me, and I go through my days as relaxed as possible. I'm done now. Have a good evening everyone.