Leave No Trace (2018)

A beautiful relationship between her and her damaged father. Did not feel like a movie. I felt that I was living their life. So emotional.

Great screenplay and performances make this low budget film the best of 2018 so far. You don't need millions of pounds of CGI, A list 'actors' and massive publicity campaigns to make a damn good film. The film is basically about a U.S. army veteran Will (Ben Foster) with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who brings his teenage daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) in the wild, literally. On public woodland in Oregon. Obviously these living conditions don't go down to well with the local social services and Will and Tom are rehoused in a tree cutter businessman/farmer's spare property. The arrangement is grudgingly followed for a few weeks to appease the authorities before Will returns to his survival in the wild lifestyle. To escape the local authorities moving to an area far away. (Leaving no trace!) Will and Tom are eventually taken in by a trailer community when Will is immobilised by injury for a while. The inner demons of Will are revealed by other vets with similar issues. The performances of the unknown cast are excellent. I did wonder about the history of Tom's mother. That is not explored. The relationship between father and daughter is what makes this film for me. The woody Oregon environment makes for a great cinematic backdrop. I reiterate how deep the film has an effect on the viewer. For such a low budget film with a limited release a triumph.

//Revelation Film Festival Review//If you've ever gone camping you'll know the feeling of tranquillity and stillness that comes with sitting nestled amongst the trees away from the noise. For war veteran Will (Ben Forster), who suffers from PTSD, leaving the noise behind is a necessity not a respite. Living with his daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie), in an urban park in Portland, Oregon, their lives are uprooted when social services mandate their return to society.The most surprising thing about Leave No Trace is how it reveals itself to be an unlikely coming of age story. While Will believes living off the grid is in the best interest of his daughter, the change in circumstances complicates Tom's feelings. Her transformation from being her father's daughter to someone able to make her own decisions leads to some heart-wrenching scenes where she stands up to Will as an equal. Like Jennifer Lawrence before her, Granik has made another find in Thomasin McKenzie, who is certainly one to watch.

I really liked the style of this movie. Nothing is ever explained, and little is even said, but the plot is sort of inferred from peoples actions. The atmosphere is also perfect, very vivid in it's capture of different environments.Now here's why I didn't like it very much. This is going to be kind of a spoiler, so stop reading here if you haven't seen it.So, the *storytelling* is great, but I found the actual story to be unrealistic. Every time the characters encounter the outside world, even the grittier parts of it, they find it to be warm and welcoming. I think the writers did this so as not to distract from the real reason the father went off-grid; but it just comes off as totally contrived. Like it's one thing to have some unusual characters, but its just everybody. Nobody behaves in a realistic way; everyone's just ..too nice.My second problem is with the girl. Supposedly she's been raised in the woods for a long time, with just her dad and a couple of damp textbooks; but inexplicably whenever she finds herself in a social situation, shes perfectly well adjusted and shows no difficulty. It's a feel good moment when the girl meets a boy or an old woman, and just instantly makes a connection with them and has a nice conversation; but really?? Being in the woods for years had no effect on her?? It just doesn't make any sense.Basically they portray this totally intense situation; but inexplicably it doesn't seem to have any psychological effect on the characters. This made it very hard to *believe* anything that happened.