Growing up in a crawl space

A SENSE of absolute normalcy pervades the opening scene in Room, where a young narrator celebrating his fifth birthday happily greets inanimate objects and describes the routine goings-on around him. "Good morning rug, good morning sink," says Jack (Jacob Tremblay) with the kind of childlike innocence that parents will readily recognise.

As the scene unfolds, that sense is replaced by growing alarm and discomfort when we le…