LEAVE NO TRACE “Granik lets glimmers of hope fight their way into her unflinching view of a broken America. That’s what gives her hypnotic and haunting tale of letting go its quiet power and amazing grace“. Rolling Stone
We asked one of our favourite filmmakers, Deborah Haywood to pick one film a day in response to Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 May); the theme of which is “kindness.” Day five and we have Leave No Trace, directed by Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone), based on the book, My Abandonment by Peter Rock. This immensely moving and redemptive portrait of a father and daughter’s love, stars Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie.
Here’s Haywood explaining why she chose this deeply intelligent, complex, finely tuned and observed film.
I chose Leave No Trace because it demonstrates the power of kindness and how it can enable transformation. It’s through the heartening kindness of strangers, and even the well-meaning bureaucrats, that thirteen-year-old Tom learns the outside world might not be as threatening as her PTSD-stricken father thinks. Tom uses kindness to communicate that she might want to lead a different path. In return, her father finds a way to return his daughter’s kindness that is equally moving and precious.
You know the filmmaking itself is kind, too. If that’s possible? I think it is…
Also, watch WINTER’S BONE
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