Leave No Trace

Plot:

A father and his 13 year old daughter (Ben Foster & Thomasin McKenzie) are living off the grid. Suddenly, one small mistake changes things forever. 

Pros:

•Thomasin McKenzie gives an award worthy performance. Ben Foster as well. I absolutely loved their beautiful and convincing portrayal of the relationship between a father and his daughter. 

•The only real villain here is PTSD, which I thought they handled very realistically. 

•Great direction by Debra Granik. She really hasn’t directed a whole lot (the only thing I recognized on her resume was Winter’s Bone, which I haven’t seen but heard it’s really good) but after this, I’d love to see more. She does a good job of showing rather than telling. 

•Beautiful locations and cinematography. 

•I enjoyed the slow pace of it. 

Cons:

•The ending. I’m not saying it’s bad and I get what she was going for, I just didn’t particularly care for it. Still, this is definitely one of the better movies I’ve seen this year and I highly recommend it. 

My Rating: 9/10