Leave No Trace

2018 1h 49m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 1,420

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Cinemax Amazon ChannelSubscription

Cinemax Apple TV channelSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Thomasin McKenzie
Tom
Ben Foster
Will
Jeff Kober
Mr. Walters
Dale Dickey
Dale
Dana Millican
Jean
Alyssa McKay
Valerie
David Pittman
Blane
Bob Werfelman
Bob

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Anne Rosellini, Debra Granik
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Debra Granik, shot by Michael McDonough. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jane Rizzo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster and Jeff Kober carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3892172 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Debra Granik directs. Michael McDonough behind the camera. Dickon Hinchliffe scores. Jane Rizzo cuts. Produced in Canada, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 8 years ago.
2International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.
3Directed by Debra Granik, shot by Michael McDonough. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jane Rizzo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster and Jeff Kober carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt3892172 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 18 themes, including "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "based on novel or book", "portland, oregon", "hiking".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael McDonough
Original score: Dickon Hinchliffe
Editing: Jane Rizzo
Production design: Chad Keith
Costume design: Erin Aldridge Orr
Makeup / hair: Stuart Gordon Tribble
Stunt coordinator: Amy Greene
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Leave No Trace (2018)

Also by

Debra Granik

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-01-20
★ 5/10
Hmmm, it has been a while since I've felt An Emotion™. Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.
Stephen Campbell2019-04-26
★ 7/10
Deeply respectful of its subject Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. - Ralph Waldo Emerson; "Self-Reliance" (1841) In Walden, his 1854 memoir/philosophical treatise, Henry David Thoreau chronicles a period of two years, two months, and two days during which time he lived alone in a small cabin he himself had built in the forest near Walden Pond, Massachusetts, on property owned by his mentor and friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Inspired by the tenets of transcendentalism, of especial importance to Thoreau was "Self-Reliance", an 1841 essay by Emerson, which argues that an individual must avoid conformity, follow their own ideas and concepts, and trust in their own instincts if they are to attain a deeper understanding of the nature of existence. In Walden, Thoreau was putting this concept to the test, isolating himself from civil society, and existing in nature with only the barest means of subsistence; I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach. Walden went on to become one of the (many) foundational texts of libertarianism, the core principles of which are the valuation of personal liberty above all else, and the encouragement of scepticism towards authority in general, and the state/government in particular. All of which brings us to Leave no Trace, which could, perhaps, be described as a darker version of Matt Ross's Captain Fantastic (2016). Directed by Debra Granik (Winter's Bone), and written for the screen by Granik and Anne Rosellini, based on Peter Rock's 2010 novel, My Abandonment, the film tells the story of Will (Ben Foster), a veteran suffering from PTSD, who is living off the grid with his daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie). Making their home in a national park in Portland, Oregon, they embody many of the concepts underpinning Emerson's notions of self-reliance; individual authority, nonconformity, solitude, internal self-truth, with Will especially valuing freedom of thought. However, when a jogger sees Tom, park wardens are dispatched to track them down, and social services open an investigation into their situation. Will is aghast, resenting the infringement upon his autonomy, recalling Iain King's statement that autonomy should only be infringed if a person is unable to know their own interests on a particular matter. This certainly isn't the case with Will, and he sees no reason why he and Tom shouldn't be allowed to continue to live in their own way. None of the philosophical theories outlined above are explicitly mentioned anywhere in the film. However, knowledge of them definitely helps one to more easily understand Will. Whether Granik or Rosellini are even aware of these concepts is beside the point, as they serve to give one a more assured theoretical entry point into a not easily penetrated film. For example, does one have to know that Will is at stage six of Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development to understand or enjoy the film? No, of course not. Does it help? Absolutely. On a less theoretical note, the film does a lot that on paper would seem to be wrong; for long stretches of time, there is no real sense of any kind of standard Aristotelian conflict, as we simply observe Will and Tom going about their day. In tandem with this, the film is extremely light on plot, incident, and tangible character development, focusing instead on mood and tone, and calling upon the actors to externalise their emotions through action and expression rather than dialogue. Obviously, this means almost everything hinges on the quality of the performances and the believability of the bond between the characters. Thankfully, both Foster and McKenzie are exceptional – he plays Will as someone who has seen the darker side of humanity and has no time for frivolousness, whereas she plays Tom as someone desperate to have a childhood, but who also wants to make her father proud. In one particularly telling scene, when they must leave on a moment's notice, he tells her to pack only what is essential, and she places a toy horse in her backpack, but only after she has wrapped it up so Will can't see it, an action which tells us a great deal about both characters. The film's pacing is both its greatest asset and its biggest flaw. To speed things up would have compromised the tone Granik is going for. However, this kind of methodical pacing is likely to alienate a lot of viewers, who will undoubtedly criticise the film as boring, and its focus on Will and Tom to the exclusion of almost everything else as too narrow. When it does branch out (for example, a minor sub-theme is the treatment of veterans upon their return to society), it is only insofar as to show how the two main characters are affected. What's especially interesting about the story, however, is that the narrative seems predicated on the transcendentalist notion of the inherent goodness of people; pretty much everyone Will and Tom encounter is trying to do right by them, even the social workers are genuinely trying to help them. In the end, what the film gives us is a deeply respectful portraiture of a man trying to make the best of it in the only way he knows how. A fine film.