LEAVE NO TRACE is the latest haunting film from director Debra Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini, the duo behind the multi Oscar nominated Winter’s Bone, which launched the career of Jennifer Lawrence.
Adapted from Peter Rock’s novel My Abandonment, LEAVE NO TRACE is a meticulously minimalist, moody, mysterious, and mesmerizing exploration of an unexpected existence on the edge.
A teenage girl, Tom and her war veteran father, Will, have lived undetected for years in Forest Park, a vast wood on the edge of Portland, Oregon.
A chance encounter by a recreational runner leads to their discovery and removal from the park and into the charge of a social services agency. The bureaucracy and their agents are benign and this one of the great strengths and truths of LEAVE NO TRACE – the antagonistic forces are not exerted by any malevolent character, but by something hard to see — the pressure of social conformity and business as usual.
Dad and daughter try to adapt to their new surroundings, until a sudden decision sets them on a perilous journey into the wilderness seeking complete independence and forcing them to confront their conflicting desire to be part of a community and fierce need to live apart.
LEAVE NO TRACE is a story that doesn’t rely on violent actions but still has a strong resonance. Several people, all of them strangers, help Will and Tom along the way, but the tension remains high because of how they choose to live.
The stakes are physical and existential survival. When Tom and her father are evicted from public land and don’t have a safety net, those are high stakes. Where do people who don’t fit neatly into the mainstreams of our culture go, and how do they fare is the main circuit cable into this engrossing film.
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie is a revelation as Tom, dutiful daughter and independent spirit and Ben Foster as the PTSD afflicted dad, Will, is excellent as usual.
LEAVE NO TRACE under the barrage of big box office behemoths risks leaving no trace in its theatrical release. Please make sure it doesn’t.