Chris here. Now that the summer movie season has arrived (and earlier than ever) we're on the hunt for counterprogramming wherever we can find it. Enter film festival darling Leave No Trace, a drama about a father and daughter (Ben Foster and newcomer Thomasin McKenzie) struggling to reacclimate to society after living off the grid.
The film is director Debra Granik's narrative follow-up to the Oscar nominated Winter's Bone, which you will recall helped place none other than Jennifer Lawrence on the map. Trace debuted at Sundance and has been hitting regional festivals nonstop ever since, and will get another large platform when it plays Cannes' Directors Fortnight sidebar. That should build a whole bunch of word of mouth before the film arrives on June 29.
From the looks of the trailer, we're promised a film much less grim than how the film comes across on paper. Take a look and we'll break down the Yes No Maybe So...
YES
- Show of hands: anyone else here love crying? I'm beside myself.
- Granik is operating on more than just melodrama here, with thriller elements and road movie tropes complicating the premise. Toss in some social mindfulness (post-war PTSD, homelessness, mental health) and we've got a lot to marinate over.
- We're given more than one major plot turn here in this trailer, but it still avoids being one of those trailers that spoils the full narrative arc. I have to know if this family ends up okay.
NO
- They are leaning in hard on the Winter's Bone comparisons, especially the Oscar trajectory of Lawrence and the film. It's particularly odd considering how tonally disparate they appear, even with Granik at the helm. We remember Winter's Bone as more than just an Oscar nominee, maybe remind us what a solid movie it was too.
- As great as Foster looks here, guys, we gotta get him back in roles that show his versatility. It's all blurring together, even if he usually delivers.
MAYBE SO
- Again: the film has played a lot of festivals and earned good reviews... so why didn't it register stronger on our radar, particularly when this was an admittedly muted Sundance?
- But as hard as they are trying to ram the second coming of Jennifer Lawrence into our rucksacks (and you can already tell we're dealing with a very different performer here, making the comparison extra lazy) McKenzie kills here. My tears don't lie.
For now, I'm an easy YES on what looks like a very affecting drama. Your thoughts?