The Contenders: Room with Brie Larson, Lenny Abrahamson, Emma Donoghue, and Jacob Tremblay
Friday, Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m. | Hammer Museum
On his fifth birthday, Jack wakes up and begins his morning ritual of greeting the various objects and fixtures in the squalid shed he and his mother inhabit. At first it seems that the two live in poverty, until it becomes clear that they are captives in a hidden building whose door combination is known only to their captor. The uneasy feeling that follows this realization remains throughout the film. Ma is gentle with Jack, but she has carefully schooled him to believe the outside world is wicked, perhaps to save him from the same longing she continues to suffer many years after her capture. Room cannily poses questions about parental responsibility, freedom, and the ambiguity of survival.
A Q&A with actor Brie Larson, director Lenny Abrahamson, writer Emma Donoghue, and actor Jacob Tremblay follows the screening, moderated by Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Stay tuned for additional special guest announcements.
Friday, Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Hammer Museum
Price: $15 General Admission; $10 Hammer Members