Homeless by choice — due in large part to the emotionally crippling time Dad spent serving his country — a veteran with PTSD (Ben Foster) and his teenage daughter (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) live peaceably for years in the woods of Portland. The girl’s curiosity about life in the forbidden zone eventually gets the best of her and the two are placed in the care of social services. It does a heart good to see a movie about decent people. Newcomer McKenzie hands in a star-making performance and as the father forced to make the hardest decision of his life, Foster allows tones of quiet defiance to outshout inner-anger. Debra Granik (em>Winters Bone) directs with a touch that’s as gentle on the audience as bees are to her teen lead. Don’t let the title fool you: Leave No Trace will make an everlasting impression on all who see it. (2018) — Scott Marks
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