Rented a pretty great flick on iTunes called Leave No Trace. One of the best films of the year, so far.
Leave No Trace is about a veteran and his teenage daughter who live off the grid in the middle of a forest in the Pacific Northwest. It’s somewhat clear that the father suffers some level of PTSD but the film never once over-dramatizes it or even explains what he went through during the war. No melodramatic waking up in a flop sweat and screaming, for example. Just a man who clearly feels he can’t live with or around other people. He loves his daughter, she loves him… but they are soon discovered by park rangers and brought back into The System. Can they adjust to their new surroundings or will they run…. and is that fair to the daughter?
Great acting, writing, pacing, and dialog in this film. It nails everything it tries to do and you, as the viewer, spend time feeling for the father, feeling for the daughter, hoping they can stay together, and hoping they can be apart. It’s really clever and smartly written.
I highly recommend this film, especially if you want good, understated drama, a tale of a soldier adjusting to coming home, and/or a good father/daughter story.
Score: 90