Leave No Trace may be my favorite movie of the year.
You know how I love movies that take place in the wild, and Leave No Trace is the story of a father and daughter living contentedly in the woods until they are discovered and whisked into the bureaucracy of social services and a world intended, in theory, to help them improve their lives.
But what, really, was wrong with their lives before?
Teenage Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) is thriving, thanks to her dad, Will (Ben Foster), who has made her thoughtful, curious and self-sufficient. She is loved and cared for and smart. (Why does it seem that kids raised off the grid are always way ahead of their peers? See: Captain Fantastic.)
But living on public land is illegal, and, with the encouragement of a kind social worker, Tom and Will are given a tiny house of their own. In return, he’s supposed to work, she’s supposed to go to school.
Tom takes to her new life, open to the new people and experiences that her peers take for granted. For Will, it’s not that easy. Suffering from PTSD, the war vet has been living in the Oregon forest with his daughter since the death of his wife. Suddenly being surrounded by four walls is making him claustrophobic.
This is the first time Tom and Will have been on different pages, and every parent will relate to the tension.
Leave No Trace is based on actual events, and it’s written and directed by Debra Granik, who introduced moviegoers to a young Jennifer Lawrence in the Academy Award-nominated Winter’s Bone.
As in that movie, this survival story unfolds slowly and quietly amidst the ominous beauty of nature. There isn’t a lot of dialogue: the performances say it all.
The expression, “leave no trace,” is the correct approach for treating every interaction with nature. But, when it comes to your heart, this movie throws that whole thought right out the window.
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