Room

Director Lenny Abrahamson brought a hazy commingling of whimsy and psychosis to last year's Michael-Fassbender-in-a-fake-head quirkfest Frank that never worked for me, yet that same approach proves essential to the success of Abrahamson's Room. Adapted from a novel by Emma Donoghue, who also wrote the screenplay, Room views the world through the wide-shut eyes of Jack (an eerily good Jacob Tremblay), a precocious 5-year-old boy who lives with his mother in what appears to be a heavily secured garden shed. As Jack's mother, Brie Larson stands on the shoulders of her 2013 film Short Term 12 and establishes herself as one of the top craftspeople in her trade, laying out years of unspeakable horror with a gesture or a tremble. The sound, design, cinematography, story structure and performances are all impeccable; if the film were 15 percent less focused on the fuzzy-wuzzy, it might have even been great. D.B.