The following review makes reference to the 2018 film Leave No Trace, and does not contain spoilers of any type.

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Year: 2018 Category: Drama.
Director: Debra Granik. Cast: Ben Foster, Thomasin McKenzie, Jeff Kober, Dale Dickey, Peter James DeLuca, Ayanna Berkshire, Isaiah Stone, Dana Millican, Lane Stiemsma, Michael Draper, Kyle Stoltz, Tony Ruiz, Eric Sahlstrom.

Plot

A father and his 13 year old daughter live a quiet and happy life while they are isolated in a public park in Portland, Oregon, until a small mistake complicates their lives forever when they are stopped by the police.

Opinion

The film tells the Will and Tom story, a father and his daughter, who apparently live in a public park by their own decision, and I say apparently, because although it is obvious to the viewer that these characters do not have much money, the film does not either stops at no time to explain the events, motivations and problems of the characters, but simply narrates the events visually with the intention that the viewer answers the questions for himself.

Soon, the authorities discover the camp they had in a public park, so they are arrested and forced to go through an inspection, after all, a man and a girl of 13 years living in the forest is somewhat suspicious, however, nothing bad happens. In this sense, the film does not hide anything, the story we see is exactly the story it is, there are no hidden plots waiting to come to light and surprise the viewer, the story we have here is simple but emotionally complex.

Will is a man who wants to stay away from technology and civilization, live day to day, wake up in the morning, hunt and cook his own food, and Tom accompanies her father faithfully, however, she is not completely satisfied with the lifestyle they have, she wants to find a real home to stay and have a life like other people, her problem is that she must confront her father.

In the film there are no unexpected turns and there are not many dialogues, in fact, we could say that it is slow and although the characters travel in beautiful places the director decides not to show us wide shots, I guess his point was not to show how beautiful nature is but its rebellion and how difficult it is to live a life far from civilization.

Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie do a magnificent job here, if we take into account that the film does not have many dialogues and that the story is slow and routine and that even then these two actors perfectly convey the emotional depth that their characters must convey. In this sense, their acting work becomes fundamental to make the spectator not abandon the film. Not to mention a scene that takes place when the film is nearing the end in which the Ben and Thomasin performance simply left me speechless, a very emotional moment. Foster is still one of my favorite actors, and about miss McKenzi I think I've discovered a future great actress.

Debra Granik, the director, does a great job here, although I think she could do better, in some moments the film feels like the protagonists journey, that is, without direction, as if it were going nowhere, and that makes that the viewer loses interest.

Trailer

Score

7/10

Acceptable direction, good script, excellent performances. A film without narrative or technical complexity but with emotional depth and a great performance of the actors at the moment of demonstrating it. At times it becomes repetitive and long, which tires the viewer, but recovers with some good moments, especially the end. I recommend this film to people who want to see a slow and emotional drama that proposes questions that the viewer must answer and not the film itself. At the time of publishing this review, this movie is available in the Canadian Netflix catalogue.