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User Reviews for: Leave No Trace

dgw
10/10  6 years ago
Skimming other reviews of this film elsewhere, I've seen accusations of slow pacing, bad writing, unrealistic characters… For every reviewer who found the movie amazing, it's almost like that had to be balanced out by someone else who couldn't stand it.

Someone will have to balance out my review, then, because I need more films like _Leave No Trace_ in my life.

Sometimes, if a movie leaves me wondering what actually happened, it's a sign of incoherent writing, or editing. Other times—as with _Leave No Trace_—it means I wasn't paying close enough attention to the details. And no, I'm definitely _not_ in the segment of moviegoers who would argue that it's the filmmaker's job to _make sure_ I know what's happening. Nothing smacks of "inexperienced director" like hitting me, the viewer, over the head with a plot point several times to _make sure_ I got it.

Fortunately there's none of that in _Leave No Trace_. I've been meaning to watch _Winter's Bone_ for some time, but I'll have to bump it up a few slots on the ol' watchlist after seeing this. If the two films share any of the same DNA (and they do, in the form of writer and director Debra Granik), I'll love that one too.¹ I can't get enough of this storytelling technique, where the characters just…exist, and don't stand there explaining what's happening (or what happened before now) for the audience's benefit.

Not everyone appreciates this style of "expositionless" storytelling, to be sure. One IMDB reviewer said "it seemed this [movie] had a beginning, beginning and beginning."² But those of us who relish poking fun at the "exposition dumps" traditional screenplays often throw out really love being left to our own interpretations of characters' words and actions. Or at least… I do.

This isn't an easy movie to watch, really. I wouldn't throw it up to relax after a hard day. The subject matter gets too deep for that, I think. But it is very much worth the journey. Along with those critical accusations I mentioned earlier, numerous reviewers also called this film insightful, thought-provoking, and uncomfortable. I agree with all of those, at least on some level. Scenes that might seem kind of throwaway at first (the church service, say) always turned out to be plot-relevant in the end.

_Leave No Trace_ is slow and quiet at times, but it's never boring.

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1. I used to think that the same person writing and directing a film was a sure sign of a mediocre movie, but I've been proven wrong about that many times at this point. Now I just wonder what made me start thinking it…
2. From review by ohajee on IMDB. Permalink: `https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4250151/`
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