Leave No Trace

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, Leave No Trace is available in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on YouTube TV and Cinemax Amazon Channel right now. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Thomasin McKenzie sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. Start it on Amazon Prime Video whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

There is a reason Leave No Trace keeps coming up in conversation. Leave No Trace trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own. Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. Leave No Trace came out in 2018. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Drama fans who appreciate slow-burn storytelling will feel right at home with Leave No Trace. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Thomasin McKenzie is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.