Leave No Trace Review
Now we're getting real obscure.
Leave No Trace is a Sundance hit based on a book about a father and daughter who live in the wilderness. Like they don't just camp a lot: they LIVE in it. I found out about this one in London, where there were ads for on almost every single stop on the tube. I looked it up and then saw it had a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, a score that is really (REALLY) hard to get. So I decided to check it out. And it was pretty good..........for the most part.
Does is deserve a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes you ask?
First of all, the acting is great. No problems with that. The two leads are really the only important characters in the story, so they do a great job. Neither have very many lines, but they did the best they could The cinematography is good. Nothing too special, but it isn't bland in any way. Basically, the film excels on all technical aspects. I watched this with both of my parents, who found an issue with pacing. I honestly thought it was fine. It wasn't edge-of-your-seat pace, but it wasn't James Cameron boring (in case you haven't noticed, I'm not a fan of James Cameron). The dialogue was good too. None of it felt artificial and it certainly does the best job of elevating the film emotionally, way more than the story could.
And that unfortunately brings us to the big issue of Leave No Trace: the storytelling. The filmmakers decided that the best way to tell the story was to be as subtle as humanly possible about every single detail. This doesn't have to be an issue, if it's utilized in the right way. It allows you to think more while you are watching and also shows that the filmmakers think that the audience is not stupid and is very capable of analysis. But this one thinks its audience is made up of geniuses, a category that I don't fit in. The most important plot details that you need to know in order to understand the motivations for the main characters are conveyed in a few lines of dialogue that are easy to miss. Like the fact that the dad is a veteran. This is an important detail that pretty much explains the whole motivation the character has for living in the woods, but it is only revealed in one miss-able line. I know it is entirely a stylistic choice that they made and I think some subtlety does elevate the suspense of a story. I mean, subtlety was one of A Quiet Place's biggest strengths and it remains as my favorite movie of the year without a doubt. But come on now. This one got carried away with that technique. There's still stuff I don't know about because the movie doesn't bother to even give you hints (I JUST WANTED HINTS)! Like what happened to the mom? Did she die or leave the Dad. How long have they been living like this? Must've been a while because the daughter clearly has some social awkwardness (Actually, I take that back. I'm socially awkward, but haven't lived in the woods). Also, where did the go after they joined the trucker? I know they originally lived in Portland, but I only know this because of the DVD cover (I'm not joking). Oh well, I might like it better if I watched it again at a different time. I don't particularly want to do that anytime soon though.
SCORE: 7.5/10 (probably closer to a 7 than an 8)
I'm gonna put this in MEH category of my year ranking, but that might change because this seems like a movie that gets better when you watch it again. This is my current opinion however, and honestly, I'm probably not gonna watch it again unless it's on Netflix or Amazon.
Does is deserve a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes you ask?
First of all, the acting is great. No problems with that. The two leads are really the only important characters in the story, so they do a great job. Neither have very many lines, but they did the best they could The cinematography is good. Nothing too special, but it isn't bland in any way. Basically, the film excels on all technical aspects. I watched this with both of my parents, who found an issue with pacing. I honestly thought it was fine. It wasn't edge-of-your-seat pace, but it wasn't James Cameron boring (in case you haven't noticed, I'm not a fan of James Cameron). The dialogue was good too. None of it felt artificial and it certainly does the best job of elevating the film emotionally, way more than the story could.
And that unfortunately brings us to the big issue of Leave No Trace: the storytelling. The filmmakers decided that the best way to tell the story was to be as subtle as humanly possible about every single detail. This doesn't have to be an issue, if it's utilized in the right way. It allows you to think more while you are watching and also shows that the filmmakers think that the audience is not stupid and is very capable of analysis. But this one thinks its audience is made up of geniuses, a category that I don't fit in. The most important plot details that you need to know in order to understand the motivations for the main characters are conveyed in a few lines of dialogue that are easy to miss. Like the fact that the dad is a veteran. This is an important detail that pretty much explains the whole motivation the character has for living in the woods, but it is only revealed in one miss-able line. I know it is entirely a stylistic choice that they made and I think some subtlety does elevate the suspense of a story. I mean, subtlety was one of A Quiet Place's biggest strengths and it remains as my favorite movie of the year without a doubt. But come on now. This one got carried away with that technique. There's still stuff I don't know about because the movie doesn't bother to even give you hints (I JUST WANTED HINTS)! Like what happened to the mom? Did she die or leave the Dad. How long have they been living like this? Must've been a while because the daughter clearly has some social awkwardness (Actually, I take that back. I'm socially awkward, but haven't lived in the woods). Also, where did the go after they joined the trucker? I know they originally lived in Portland, but I only know this because of the DVD cover (I'm not joking). Oh well, I might like it better if I watched it again at a different time. I don't particularly want to do that anytime soon though.
SCORE: 7.5/10 (probably closer to a 7 than an 8)
I'm gonna put this in MEH category of my year ranking, but that might change because this seems like a movie that gets better when you watch it again. This is my current opinion however, and honestly, I'm probably not gonna watch it again unless it's on Netflix or Amazon.
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