Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States of America

DramaThriller

Based on novel or bookEscapeIsolationCarpetKidnappingImprisonmentGrandparentsHospitalDogCaptiveChildren's perspectivesSkylightMother son relationship

Lenny Abrahamson

Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, Sean Bridgers, Tom McCamus

Emma Donoghue

Téléfilm Canada, Element Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, No Trace Camping, Film4 Productions, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland

Taglines: Love knows no boundaries

Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Reviews:

Author: Horseface
"I want a different story!" That line and the scene it's taken from is quintessential to what this movie is about — at least to me. To me, this is so much **not** about being abducted and trapped in a room but about the apparent pointlessness of being, about coming to terms with it and understanding and accepting that any meaning that is to be found, comes from within ourselves. It's also about moving on, about love and parenthood ("Can I?" "There's nothing left."), and just... Well, humanity and love. It reminds me of the beautiful relationship between father and son in The Road (the book — I don't remember if the movie conveys this relationship very well, but I do remember the beauty of it in the book). The relationship between mother and son in this movie is heartbreakingly beautiful as well. Also, I don't remember the last time I've seen a child perform this well in a movie. I have a feeling I've seen better, but I can't remember having seen better. I thought this would be a horror movie (I don't read synopsises or reviews or watch trailers before watching a movie), instead I was moved to tears again and again. But **not** disappointed. Brilliant. Watch it.