Leave No Trace
Directed by: Debra Granik
Summary: This was one of the most significantly hyped films of the festival, as Granik is fairly renowned in the industry. Adapted from the inspired-by-a-true-story book My Abandonment by Peter Rock, the film is about a man and his daughter living off the grid in a state park in the Pacific Northwest, until one unfortunate encounter upends everything they’ve built together and sets them on a new course forever. Based on an interview we did with Granik before the screening, it seemed the father’s motive for their primitive lifestyle is because he doesn’t want to get sucked into the culture of digital obsession – he wants to have a way to “think their own thoughts.” However, as the story unfolds in the film, it seems the father simply has an aversion to traditional society and an inability to stay in one place, apparently caused by war and/or some other past trauma. The girl is torn between wanting to stay with her father and wanting to join a more normal society.
My take: This has a similar outdoorsy setting and tone as Granik’s biggest hit Winter’s Bone but it is not Winter’s Bone. It’s beautifully shot, the acting is compelling, and it has all the ingredients of a typical – and good – independent film: intimacy, emotional heaviness, slow-burn progression, lush scenery. However, the plot is lacking. I’m not sure what’s due to the book source material or not, but based on what Granik told me, I’m not sure the story conveyed is the one intended.
A key problem is that the story unfolds in such a meandering, haphazard manner you think it’s going to go in one direction and then it doesn’t – not in a thrilling plot-twist way, but rather like a note falling flat. It seems to aim bigger than it ever actually goes. Worst of all, you never learn exactly what happened in the father’s past that led to his chosen lifestyle, nor get an inner monologue from his daughter for deep insight into her mindset, and it makes it hard to feel as fully connected to the characters and their tale as you should be. All told, it’s clear this film was made by a director who knows what she’s doing, and as a love-letter to the Pacific Northwest, it’s perfect. But its narrative just doesn’t pack the punch it probably is supposed to.
Rating: 3.5
Learn more about the film at: https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/leavenotrace
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