That the kind of scenario depicted (in part) in Lenny Abrahamson’s film Room has happened frequently enough for it to be commonplace is a disturbing factoid. This is a film about a woman (Brie Larson) who has been held captive for multiple years, and in the ensuing time, bore a child fathered by her captor. The child (Jacob Tremblay) reaches a mature enough age where he can be told the truth about their surroundings; that there is a world outside the room of Room. They plot their escape, and from there on in it becomes a journey of emotional and psychological adjustment after the fact.

Horrific stories like this seem to have happened in real life with a startling kind of regularity, not just in the US, but throughout the world. That’s another notion to ponder; one for serious discussion about an ingrained sense of proprietorship over the lives of women. The film in which this – fictitious – scenario is depicted is more about how Joy, or ‘Ma’ as her son refers to her, can adjust to the world she escapes into; to the now-divorced parents (Joan Allen, William H. Macy) who were left behind and for whose lives were irreparably altered; the strange alien world Jack now must adjust to.

Perspective and point of view is key in director Abrahamson’s telling; much of it gives limited scope to what Jack sees and experiences, and it’s through this methodology and a stunning debut performance from the eerily talented Tremblay that much of the film’s positive impact is found. This is dark material, but it still manages to be something that finds positivity and an uplifting beat to it. It’s amazing what preternatural talent can be found, the ensuing impact it can have on a film, when the right kid is cast in a role as demanding as this.

All the talk has quite deservedly been focussed around Brie Larson’s performance. This is an actor who has paved her way to this point in her career – Best Actress Oscar-nominated, and probable winner at 26 – playing smaller parts in teen comedies, cable TV and indi films. But you just need the right material at the right time to bring out something quietly nuanced, believable and impact as what Larson brings to ‘Ma’ in this one. She’s 100% on board when the part calls for maternal, loving, grieving, exhausted, embittered, angry… the full gamut. It’s a stunning performance.

The very nature of the subject matter, the plot specifically, negates the widespread appeal a film of this quality deserves. But it does deserve your attention; a fine example of first-class film making being achieved within independently-minded American cinema.