When you are the director who helped the likes of Jennifer Lawrence into stardom, actors will be drawn to you. But that doesn’t mean you have to capitalize on this and chug out movie after movie. Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone, Down to the Bone) certainly did not do this. Winter’s Bone, which launched Lawrence into the public eye with her first of, as of 2017, four Academy Award nominations, was released in 2010, but this is Granik’s first non-documentary film since then. And, for critics, it was worth the wait. At the time of this review, her new film Leave No Trace has a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And, just as a recap, Rotten Tomatoes is an aggregate of critics’ reviews. So a 100% rating doesn’t mean that a critic thinks it’s a four-star movie. It just means she gives it a favorable review. And I’ll be the first to say that if I was a Rotten Tomatoes critic, I’m uncertain if that aggregate rating would still be 100%. Ultimately, I do fall on the side of giving this film a favorable review, but it is far from a great movie. Based on the trailer, I thought I was going to love Leave No Trace. However, I found it to be not just slow but boring. And I wanted to understand one of the two lead characters much more. There was a desire during the middle of the movie where I wanted to learn more. Unfortunately, it never quite quenched that thirst.
In eight square miles in a mountain range west of Portland, Will (Ben Foster – Hell or High Water, Lone Survivor) and his 13-year-old daughter Tom (newcomer Thomasin McKenzie) live illegally in an Oregon state park, moving around from location to location when the feel as if their location has been compromised. Their most recent hiding spot looks like they’ve been there for weeks or even months. Or maybe the duo is just perfect about setting up camp and getting situated quickly. They have basic necessities. They live off the food of the land. They have plenty of fresh water to drink. They have shelter. They have a tarp for when it rains that they patch with duct tape when holes appear. When the land is too wet to start a fire, they have a propane gas tank. But they only use that for emergencies since propane costs money, and they don’t have much of it. But they do have some…
This is when we learn that Will is a military veteran. And that he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). On occasion, Will and Tom travel into town to get necessary supplies and pick up his doctor-prescribed medication to deal with his PTSD, which he then turns around and sells to a drug dealer for profit. And that is basically the income for Will and Tom. What worked well in this movie were the performances of Will and Tom. Foster, an already accomplished movie star before the age of 40, is matched scene for scene with this newcomer. Foster’s performance was great. In fact, with apologies to The Program, it might be the best performance of his career. With that said, it wasn’t a tough performance. Will is a man who doesn’t convey much emotion. He tells a lot of his story through his eyes. We never learn too much about his backstory, and that is very purposeful. But it didn’t work for me. Maybe I just needed it to understand the character more, or maybe I was just so used to seeing the origins of PTSD in other movies that I expected it. We learn very early that Will doesn’t do well in confined spaces, but we don’t know why. When he becomes too “known” by someone other than Tom, he feels the need to escape. But we don’t know why. We learn that he has nightmares at night that haunt him, but we don’t know why or do we ever see these effects. We learn about Tom that he is a very honorable and honest man and that he wouldn’t so much as hurt a fly on another person’s head. Not once does he raise his voice or lose control of a situation, even when he isn’t in control of a situation (if that makes any sense). It would probably require another viewing of the movie, but I don’t think he smiles once in this film. But he’s very appreciative of those who try to help him. Even if he doesn’t want help or doesn’t think that he needs help, he still treats all people with kindness and respect. What we see of him, we love. But we just don’t know too much of him.
And what we learn about Tom is that living in the wilderness with her father as her only companion is the only leave that she has ever known. We learn that her mother died when Tom was very long. Occasionally, Tom will ask Will questions about his mom, and he only has wonderful things to say about her. Out in the wild, she can do everything just about everything her father is capable of doing, outside of maybe starting a fire. She cooks. She chops wood. She fixes up around camp. She provides the lookout. She spends downtime with her dad playing chess, discussing life, and learning. Though she is not attending school, we discover is well ahead of where most 13-year-olds should be. But, as we all know, school is more about academics. There are social skills that aren’t being developed. And Will be the first to agree with that. He understands that while he doesn’t want or need social interaction, he knows its importance. It was something that he had when he was younger. This becomes the driving force of the story. He lives a lifestyle that is conducive for him, but one that hinders his daughter’s growth with each passing day. It becomes a struggle for Will trying to adapt to the norms of society. Either he adapts, or he has to let his daughter move on without him. He knows this. He’s just delaying the inevitable of when he will have to make that decision.
Thomasin McKenzie plays Tom perfectly. There is an innate love between her and her father. She has not known a life without him. But when circumstances drive the two into a previously unknown society, she becomes immersed in it. She is enthralled with being near people who are near her in age. She is absorbed by the different cultures, people, lifestyles, and ways of learning that she had never been exposed to before. The look of joy on her face as she becomes the young woman that she never thought she could be is obvious (again, McKenzie was fantastic). But more importantly, it becomes obvious to Will. The lifestyle that works for him isn’t the same one that works for his daughter. It’s not that he’s trying to shield her from society. It’s just that he doesn’t (or more so, he can’t) be part of society and doesn’t want to let her go. It’s not through a lack of effort that he cannot assimilate through the world. Granik sets up her story in a way that shows that he is trying. However, her direction isn’t perfect with this. Just when we feel we are getting close to really understanding Will, she pulls out the rug from underneath our feet and takes us in a different direction.
In a movie like this, where you have two protagonists, one is an A-list movie star, and the other is a complete unknown that you will go in thinking and wanting the story to be about the known commodity. That’s not the case here, and the quicker you realize that the story is more about Tom than it is Will, the more likely you are to find this movie fulfilling. I wasn’t able to understand this until after I viewed the film. I was more preoccupied with figuring out what I was missing than appreciating what was being presented. I wanted (and still want) to know more about Will. I wanted to see an episode or two (whether it be in a flashback or a present situation) of what caused him to be the way he is or what happens when his situation becomes overwhelming. We sort of see it with his fight or flight approach that is engrained in his mind. But we don’t see the bad of it. And I really think that this was a missing component of this film. On a different but related note, it could help explain why this movie had a PG rating.
Leave No Trace was a good film, but it is far from a great film. 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes happens maybe once a year with a movie that so many consumers will see. The acting is fantastic. As mentioned, Foster did a tremendous job playing the calm, kind, reclusive, and tormented Will, yet I didn’t think the role was a super hard one to excel at. McKenzie slowly took the focus away from Foster and placed it squarely on her shoulders, more impressive. The story was straightforward to comprehend, yet it leaves you wanting more. I found it to be prolonged, so much at certain points that it was frustrating. And I did not find it to be the least bit emotional, although others around me were weeping at the end. However, the film’s final scene is heartbreaking and one I could connect with. I can only imagine how relatable it is to our many veterans (or even non-military persons) out there who are suffering from PTSD.
Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 7.5/10
Hook and Reel 7.5/10
Universal Relevance 7.5/10
79.5%