‘Leave No Trace’ Is An Unforgettable, Universal Experience [Sundance Review]

Eight years ago, director Debra Granik along with a then unknown Jennifer Lawrence premiered “Winter’s Bone” to a stunned Sundance audience. The film would go on to garner four Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay), and Lawrence would take Hollywood by storm soon after. Meanwhile Granik, whose only other film at the time was the underrated “Down to the Bone” starring Vera Farmiga, made a major statement with that Ozarkian fable. She proved to be the real deal behind the camera, and the dysfunctional American families at the core of her first two narrative feature films (she also helmed the documentary “Stray Dog“) have now led to “Leave No Trace.”

Following the terrific breakout turns by Farmiga and Lawrence, Granik has given us another outstandingly talented young actress by the name of Thomasin McKenzie. She plays the teenage Tom who, along with her dad Will (Ben Foster), tries to live off the grid in a state park in Oregon. Will has post-traumatic stress disorder from having fought in Iraq, and he refuses to seek help.

Tom is incredibly resourceful with her surroundings and highly cultured, and the survival skills taught by her father have made her adaptable to any situation. She’s been raised as a bright, strong-minded survivalist, but as Tom reaches an age where self-awareness leads to questions, and she gets a taste of social situations in the real world, she wants more. The trigger comes when the state finds our lonely drifters’ hiding spot, and they’re removed from their isolated home. A social worker named Jean (Dana Millican) starts to help them slowly adapt back to society, and finds Will work on a Christmas tree farm. However, change isn’t easy. Sleeping indoors is strange for this duo and on their first night at their new home, they actually camp outside instead.

What is so beautiful and surprising about Granik’s film is its good natured spirit. Tom and Will meet genuinely giving people on their journey back to a civilized lifestyle. Nobody means harm in this tale, and Granik captures a positivity about American life, rarely seen at the movies, especially in a region where poverty is rampant and yet people endeavor to build communities and make meaningful connections. However, there is still a yearning inside of Will that will not go away; the has war came back home and never left his psyche. Will slowly starts to rebel again, but Tom has finally met new people, enjoys her new life, and the stability that comes with it. With his daughter’s fight or flight instinct slowly diminishing by the day, Will decides to step in and convince Tom to leave with him again to the wilderness.

Even as PTSD remains a strong thematic undercurrent to the picture, Granik never pushes those the obvious buttons or makes a statement about it, at least not until the film’s final few minutes which are sure to cause debate, and even had this critic left feeling a little unsatisfied. Ultimately, Will is not a bad person, just someone struggling with inner demons that eat him up on a daily basis. Even as he’s managed to raise a strong, independent daughter, it’s heartbreaking to see Tom slowly realize that Will has stolen her youth, even if she knows he meant well.

Despite the grayish shades that invade Michael McDonough‘s cinematography, “Leave No Trace” is a lovely film to behold, unspooling very much in the tradition of David Lynch‘s humane, good-hearted Americana masterpiece “The Straight Story.” Granik unfolds a simple story, with the subtlest of artistry, just as she did in “Winter’s Bone.” Just like that film, “Leave No Trace” is about Americans we never really see depicted on the news. They are the lost voices that make you believe in the good of people. A refreshing look at humanity in general, “Leave No Trace” is a universal, unforgettable experience. [A-]

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