After Living Amongst Nature, a Father and Daughter Try Adjusting to Society

Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster in "Leave No Trace"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

So far, this year, we’ve had a couple of movies that deal with main characters who are present-day veterans dealing with troubled lives.  In Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here” and Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed,” they examine what these characters are feeling with startling and poignant effect, providing us with in-depth views of their situations.  Not only does this make for impactful filmmaking, but it gives you a view into a relevant and important topic.

Writer-director Debra Granik achieves the same with her drama, “Leave No Trace,” a film that will astound you with two unforgettable performances that anchor a timely and heartrending story.

Will (Ben Foster) is a veteran suffering from PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie), have been living in a large urban park in Portland, Oregon.  When a small mistake has them spotted by authorities, they’re placed in social services.  While Tom has an easier time settling into her new surroundings than her father, he soon has them run away to rebuild their lives out in nature.

Foster’s dialogue is sparse throughout the film, but this encourages us to pay close attention to his facial expressions and discern what’s going through his mind.  Although we see certain things in the film that hint at the person Will was before the events of the film, it doesn't give away a great deal.  Instead, this is a performance where Foster's nonverbal acting can provide us with a sense of the hardships that he’s experienced, but we're not sure of the precise details of what's happened to him.  This results in an affecting performance where so much can be said when not much is said at all.  

McKenzie is stunning in a breakout role as someone who’s torn between embracing a new life and holding on to her old one.  Right from the opening scene, we see a character who, despite being a teenager, possesses a resourcefulness with which to take care of herself when living on the outskirts of civilization, and this resourcefulness pairs well with the confidence that McKenzie displays in her acting.  It's an understated performance that requires an inherent talent, and for an up-and-coming actress to triumph in a role such as this, it's obvious that there are many successes to expect from McKenzie as her career progresses.

The chemistry between Foster and McKenzie helps to make this film one that will get you lost in their journey and always have you contemplating what their future holds.  They're each other's world, and their bond is so strong that you can't imagine them being apart.  Foster and McKenzie create a father-daughter team that's celebratory in its strength and heartbreaking in its uncertainty, and you'll find yourself fortunate to be spending time with these characters to see how they traverse the film's timely themes.

The screenplay by Granik and her "Winter's Bone" co-writer, Anne Rosellini, (Granik directed the film), which is based on Peter Rock’s 2009 novel “My Abandonment,” may have a simple narrative at its core, but there's so much to analyze beneath the events of the film.  Several of the exchanges between Will and Tom have just a small amount of dialogue, so the story encourages us to fill in the blanks as to what's happening that we're not hearing or seeing.

What makes this a superb screenplay is how it doesn't just tell a survival tale in the sense that these characters are trying to get by while living out in nature, but also a survival tale on a deeper level for Will's character.  During the film, we see that Will believes that living outside of society will help him outrun the effects of his PTSD, and this adds a whole other layer to his character because we know that society wants to help him, but he's not sure if it can, and we find ourselves begging for him to receive whatever assistance that he needs, for both his sake and his daughter's.

Cinematographer Michael McDonough, who lensed “Winter’s Bone," comes back to offer his talents for "Leave No Trace."  Just as he was able to capture the oppressive bleakness of the Missouri Ozarks in "Winter's Bone," he provides gorgeous framing of the forest landscapes that the main characters inhabit, giving us an idea of the tranquility that they find with living in this place.  The loving shots of the lush, green surroundings welcome you into Will and Tom's peaceful seclusion, and when you're stripped away from the beauty of the outdoors as the film shifts them to civilization, you feel the same level of displacement that Will and Tom feel.

Granik presents a moving look at PTSD and how it effects those who are afflicted with it.  When handling this sensitive topic, she lets you feel the power of the story’s most-emotional moments through the subtly of the performances, how the scenes are constructed, and the opportunities that you’re given to contemplate the themes.  Its Granik’s expert direction that allows you to focus on the smaller details of what happens throughout the film and lets them speak for the bigger message of the story.

“Leave No Trace” brings you on an odyssey where you feel the lives changing for the characters as you’re watching them, and you can’t miss the chance to take part on a journey such as this.

Final Grade: A