Room – 7

This one is all about acting and psychology: how do you feel about what each of the characters lives through, and how well do they portray it? Brie Larson is amazingly equable in a seemingly insupportable situation; when she cracks you’re only surprised it didn’t happen sooner. The kid plays a kid – he’s the remarkable one. William H. Macy makes one wonder what he’s doing in this movie; and for some reason, Joan Allen’s face was unwatchable for me. I cringed every time she appeared onscreen. Other than the usual knocks on the media, the film seemed refreshingly agenda-free. It was, in the end, a study of people coping.