In 2010 director Debra Granik made the excellent Ozarks drama Winter's Bone. That film told a quietly compelling, empathetic and tense story of life on the fringes of America, which introduced the world to the ferocious acting talents of its young star Jennifer Lawrence.
Now, eight years later, Granik returns with Leave No Trace, an equally excellent and empathetic portrait of life on the American margins, which is set to make a star of young, unknown actress Thomasin Harcourt Mackenzie.
Mackenzie plays Tom, the teenage daughter of war veteran and PTSD sufferer Will (Ben Foster). Will has raised his daughter off the grid and away from the triggering effects of urban life. When we meet the pair, they're living using only the most basic of necessities, deep in the woods of a public park in Portland, Oregon.
Without sensationalising or evangelising, Granik quietly draws us into the daily lives and rhythms of the relationship between Will and Tom. They cook mushrooms using a solar cooker; drink water collected from a tarpaulin erected under the trees; practice escape drills in the case of discovery by park rangers and protect each other during their occasional visits into Portland to obtain supplies. They may be "homeless" but they seem to be content.
When Will and Tom are apprehended by park rangers and processed through the systems of the social services department, their lives swiftly change. This is also where Granik demonstrates her unique ability to subtly convey both sides of a difficult argument - understanding that for Tom, there is much to appreciate about the four walls and convenience provided by the accommodation given to the pair by a pious tree farmer while also being able to make us realise that for Will this is a cage that carries with it the potential for psychological triggering.
The tension between Tom and Will's reactions to the basic comforts of conventional society becomes the driving force of the story from this point on.
WATCH | The trailer for Leave No Trace..