I've never wanted to live in the woods so badly.
It’s still early into the year when it comes to awards season, but Leave No Trace just marked itself as a new front-runner for Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress.
At least, it should be. I’m not really sure how many people are going to see this movie or what kind of awards life it’s actually going to have, but it doesn’t change the fact that the performances from Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie are the best I’ve seen all year.
From Director Debra Granik, creator of Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone, comes a movie that, oddly, doesn’t feature all too many bones. In fact, I don’t remember a single bone being on-screen anywhere in Leave No Trace. Talk about a change of pace.
Leave No Trace follows a war-veteran named Will (Foster) and his daughter Tom (McKenzie) as they live off-the-grid out in Oregon.
Off-the-grid might be a bit of an understatement. These two have been living by themselves in the middle of a public forest for years now. At this point, it’s the only life that Tom has ever really known.
That’s the way they like it, though. Will has picked up the appropriate skills, among other things, they need to survive during his time in the army, and they like the solitude.
Of course, we know that this can’t last. While he might be a great father who only wants the best for his daughter, Will is clearly struggling with PTSD and a handful of other mental disorders. As soon as someone catches word that they’re living out in the forest, everything changes.
Suddenly, practically against their own will (heh, see what I did there?), the two of them are forced to adapt back into society. It’s a slow-going process, to the credit of Child Protective Services or whoever is in charge of their case, but it’s a process they aren’t all too keen to go through.
At least, not at first. The more they are brought into society, the more Tom’s eyes are opened. Suddenly, living out in the woods has begun to lose its appeal.
Will, on the other hand, doesn’t feel the same way. He still has his own demons he has to face, and no program or medication is going to help him do so.
The great thing is that none of that is actually any kind of spoiler to the movie. All of that is conveyed in the trailer, and everything that takes place in the trailer happens within the first act of the movie. Following all of that, Leave No Trace continues to place these characters into new situations and circumstances which forces them to continue to adapt/not adapt, and we, as the audience, get to see the results.
Results that are complicated, challenging, beautiful and somber. I love this movie.
For the first act, I had certain reservations when it comes to Leave No Trace. I’ve seen the premise in which a loving parent may not be the most qualified to raise a child before in movies like Captain Fantastic, The Florida Project and, heck, even Room had some of that.
While those are all great movies (The Florida Project is still my number one of 2017), I was hoping that Leave No Trace would be its own thing and not just a retread of the past.
Luckily, it is. When act two hits, this movie takes us somewhere completely new and forces us to deal with emotions that, quite frankly, I didn’t expect from Leave No Trace.
One of the things that they do really right in Leave No Trace — and I mean REALLY right — is addressing actual mental health issues that people struggle with on a day-to-day basis. Maybe we’ve seen this in other movies before — and even if we have, the fact that it still exists and people aren’t getting the help they need means that we should be seeing it again — but we’ve never seen it quite like this.
The way that Foster’s character, in particular, reacts to certain things in such a subtle yet delicate way; it all just feels so honest and like a reflection of real life. It reminded me of Manchester by the Sea in the fact that you can tell these issues are ones that the filmmakers and actors clearly understand — they want to convey what living with something like this is like, and they know just how to do it.
Another thing that Leave No Trace does brilliantly is the father-daughter relationship between Will and Tom. Never, for a second, did I doubt their relationship. It’s to a point where neither of these two even feel like they’re acting — everything is so natural that they disappear into these characters and they feel like someone you could actually pass on the street.
The bond they have is a special one, and watching it play out in the way that it does is truly remarkable.
Of course, you need talented actors in order for that to work. Good thing Foster and McKenzie both give some of the best performances of their entire careers in Leave No Trace. That means a bit more when talking about Foster, of course, as McKenzie is relatively new and upcoming, but she’s bound to be a star after a role like this.
Leave No Trace isn’t an easy watch. By the time the movie ends — and one scene in particular — you could hear the people in the theater sniffling and holding back the tears. It’s that kind of movie. Yet, it’s also kind of beautiful. Beautiful in a way that a movie like this — one without any kind of villain, forced drama or big explosions — can find life during the summer blockbuster season. It’s small, intimate and personal, making Leave No Trace one of the best movies you’re going to see this year.
Watch the trailer for Leave No Trace here and then let us know, in the comments below, what you thought about this movie!