'Brooklyn' May Not Be Ireland's Only Best Picture Nominee At February's Oscars

It wouldn't be at all outlandish to expect Room to join the highest echelon of fellow Irish features - In The Name Of The Father, The Field, My Left Foot et al - in having its own major role to play at the 88th Academy Awards on February 28th.

Of the last seven People’s Choice Award winners at the Toronto Film Festival, six have gone on to receive nominations for best picture at the Oscars, and Lenny Abrahamson's adaptation of his compatriot Emma Donoghue's novel - a best-seller and Man Booker Prize finalist in its own right - screams as unlikely to join 2011's Where Do We Go Now in bucking the trend.

Starring Brie Larson (Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now) and 9-year-old silver screen veteran Jacob Tremblay (The Smurfs 2), the Canadian-Irish drama-thriller sees a young mother and son held captive in squalid living conditions in a sparsely-furnished garden shed, with only a grainy television to connect them to the outside world.

Tortured both emotionally and physically by her captor of seven years, who is known only as 'Old Nick,' Larson's character devises a plan to escape with her son Jack when their elderly enslaver loses his job - his sheer increased presence at 'home' further threatening the pair's safety to the point of a treacherous jailbreak.

Larson's performance has been particularly lauded, with many critics and viewers alike citing it as her best work to date and worthy of a best actress nomination, and Tremblay's change of pace from the glowing world of Smurfs to beigey-grey sordidness has also been highly acclaimed.

As has the film itself. Room retains a 96% rating on film aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a lofty 8.3 on user-rated IMDb.

Intriguingly and somewhat incredibly, the screenplay was written by Dublin-born author Donoghue, who currently resides in Canada where the film was adapted from her aforementioned novel of the same name.

Donoghue's transcription from tome to script occasionally transcends the novel - her Cambridge-honed PHD in English undoubtedly cultivating a scarce mastery of the oft-maligned transition - allowing for some crucial plot alterations which, in turn, permit the film to breathe where its audience daren't.

Her fellow Dub, Abrahamson (What Richard Did, Frank), doesn't miss a beat from the director's chair - he rarely does - bringing his new-age suave to a story that's as inspiring as it is unpalatable, and perhaps in turn joining the ever-growing hierarchy of film's forward-thinking forty-somethings whose directorial boundaries seem planted beyond the usual scope.

If the former Trinity graduate won't quite hold an Oscar aloft for this mini-budget indie in two months' time, a nomination for Room will be vindication for another progressive, poignant Irish production.