Before ‘Eileen,’ Thomasin McKenzie Impressed in This Survival Movie

The Big Picture

• Thomasin McKenzie delivers an astounding performance in Leave No Trace, capturing the bond and trust between her character and her father.
• The audience roots for Tom’s exploration of the world as she navigates the conflicting desires of living with her father in the woods and assimilating into society.
• McKenzie’s portrayal of Tom’s emotional complexity reaches a powerful climax in the final scene, leaving a lasting impact on viewers.

Although the mainstream audience might not have seen Thomasin McKenzie until her starring role in the Taika Waititi-helmed war dramedy Jojo Rabbit, where she played a young Jewish hideaway escaping the Nazis, the budding actress gave a heartbreaking and powerful performance in Debra Granik‘s 2018 film Leave No Trace. With many favorable reviews across the board, the film achieved near-universal acclaim, focusing on McKenzie and her co-star Ben Foster‘s performances. For those that are excited about seeing her in future projects, Leave No Trace is essential viewing to grasp the acting prowess that Thomasin McKenzie is capable of.

Leave No Trace is focused on war veteran Will (Foster) and his thirteen-year-old daughter Tom (McKenzie) as they navigate the challenges that come with living off the grid and being forced to assimilate back into society. As Tom begins to understand herself and the real world more, she recognizes a conflict between what may be best for her, and the lifestyle that her dad wants for them. Will’s struggle with PTSD creates major obstacles to him re-assimilating into society and at the same time, prevents him from giving his daughter a semblance of a normal life. The two face the struggles of wilderness survival, bureaucratic hoops, and each other’s internal conflicts that spill out into the decisions they make along their journey.

Thomasin McKenzie’s Onscreen Presence in ‘Leave No Trace’ Is Astounding

Working with the likes of an experienced character actor, such as Ben Foster, might in some cases prevent a newer and less experienced actor from having as much of an impact. In Leave No Trace, however, this is nowhere near the case. Thomasin McKenzie is the clear attention grabber throughout the movie, and it probably wouldn’t have worked if the story’s main protagonist was Will. From the earliest moments in the film, we see just how well McKenzie has established onscreen chemistry with her co-star. The opening scenes are the duo going through their daily routine almost wordlessly. Each actor responds to the cues and movements of the other, exchanging survival know-how and quips that show both the knowledge shared between the two and the actors’ deep preparation for the roles. McKenzie is able to communicate the bond and trust she has in her father and his ways without explicitly saying so. Soon after the two are discovered in the woods, this notion is tested.

When Will and Tom are arrested and brought to a social services center, Tom interacts with some girls her age for the first time in a long time. The girls point to the fact that living off the grid in the woods makes Tom homeless. The discomfort Tom feels while she struggles with the idea that the life her father has been living with her may not be a good thing is shown gracefully in this scene, as it’s clear Tom is trying to hide how much the comments are affecting her. As the curiosity about the world and the obligation she feels to be with her father grows throughout the film, this struggle becomes more pronounced. This early scene shows that Tom hasn’t been desensitized by living life in the rough, but rather expresses herself in very human ways to some harsh realities she’s confronted with. If nothing else, the scene shows a very clear grapple with her beliefs up to this point and the idea she may not see Will again, as indicated by the girls she is talking to.

‘Leave No Trace’ Makes Us Root for Thomasin McKenzie’s Tom

When Tom and Will are placed on a tree farm by social services in an attempt to give them stable housing to re-assimilate into society, the audience gets its first glimpses into the ways Tom explores the larger world. Her genuine curiosity and wonder at even the small things she encounters are palpable, such as meeting a young boy and attending a 4-H Club meeting. The performance by McKenzie allows the audience to begin to see the internal struggle Tom is going through slowly as it relates to living with Will in the woods. Absent a physical antagonist, this film might not work if the performance by the main character fell short or if the audience couldn’t relate to or root for what is right for Tom. The growth of this conflicting idea is brought to a head when Tom stays out later than Will expected her to with her new friends.

Tom coming home late and Will waiting up is so unlike the normal dynamic between them that an argument inevitably ensues. In reality, this is completely normal for a girl Tom’s age. As she has become more comfortable and curious about interacting in the real world, Will has become less inclined. She tearfully makes her case for adapting and describes her fear that the other kids at school will judge her for the way they were living before. Although Will’s advice is to not care about what others think of her, it’s clear from the way that Tom is responding to her father that it does, just as we saw earlier with the girls at social services. But how could it not affect a thirteen-year-old girl striving for connection?

Thomasin McKenzie Sticks the Landing in This Tense Adventure With Ben Foster

After the duo abruptly leave the tree farm, eventually they find themselves in a trailer community, mainly due to Will getting injured. Here even more so than on the tree farm, we get a sense of Tom’s want for connection and a stable life. Perhaps because the trailer park is closer to the way she was living before, and the people in it seem to accept Tom and Will as a member of their community, Tom begins to accept that there is a place for her in this part of modern society. She connects with a member of the community and the audience sees her come out of her shell more than ever, a tough balance to strike from a performance standpoint but one that is absolutely crushed by McKenzie.

When Will wants to leave, Tom has a final heart-to-heart with him before letting him move on without her. That struggle throughout the whole film finally comes to a resolution as Tom tearfully lets Will go back into the woods to live a more simplistic life on his own. The scene is the most powerful in the film and showcases the emotional complexity that McKenzie is capable of portraying onscreen. Tom knows she can’t help her father yet can’t stay living in the wilderness either. In the final line, just as heartbreaking as her entire performance, Tom relates to Will that she knows he would stay if he could, before returning to take her place in the trailer community where she feels she can be at home.

Thomasin McKenzie has proven herself capable of some deep emotional roles, and Leave No Trace is possibly the best early example of this. As she continues to take on challenging roles, the same dedication and nuance she brought to this performance will only grow. Unlike the title of the film, McKenzie’s performance certainly left a trace for audiences to ponder over.

Leave No Trace is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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