'Leave No Trace' A Review

Leave No Trace is a drama about a father Will(Ben Foster) and his daughter Tom(Thomasin McKenzie) who live off-the-grid in Forest Park outside Portland, OR. They are discovered, reported, and turned over to social services. The film follows their journey as they attempted to assimilate back into society.

Foster, known for his emotive powers but also his intensity, gives one of the most understated, reserved, but assured performances of his impressive career. He conveys a complex range of emotion and implies a mountain of backstory and baggage with the fleeting exposition the script provides. He projects an unflinching(and appropriate) love for his daughter as well as a distant but incurable damage. McKenzie, the true lead, is remarkable. With a compelling innocence that never dips into ignorance or gullibility. The performance has such openness and honesty that it is both heartbreaking and glorious. The two have the best onscreen chemistry of the year, clearly conveying this incredibly intimate and nuanced father-daughter relationship with few words and mostly their bodies and faces.

There isn't much plot to speak of and the script has to be less than half the length of any normal feature but because of that it has a beautiful, simple, almost meditative quality. We are shown this relationship and taken with as it evolves with such care and consideration not only to the central pair but to the landscape they inhabit with such harmony. The third character in the film is nature, specifically the forests of the Pacific Northwest and as they envelope the two leads a rare and quiet intimacy emerges. As the film progresses it reveals itself to be, essentially, a coming-of-age story for it's teenage lead but it transcends that tired descriptor with an astounding silent wonder and compassion.

Don't Miss It.