The Writer's Life 12/1 - Traces

The most serious American films almost always come from independent auteurs. I don't recall what prompted me to add Leave No Trace (2018) to my Netflix list, but I'm glad I did. It is the powerful story of a father and teenage daughter living in a forest in Oregon. A veteran, he is apparently suffering PTSD. They are evicted by government officials, who subject them to tests and place them in a temporary, beautiful little home in a rural area. For the first time, the highly intelligent girl sees how others live, and likes it. Despite her longing to stay, she accompanies her dad back to the wild. They flee to Washington, where the conflict rises again, inevitable. Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie, a New Zealander, are excellent in the lead roles. This is a quiet study. The possibility of a psychotic is always just beneath the surface. But this isn't a Hollywood depiction of another veteran gone amok. It is of one of the vast majority of those who have been in combat. Anyone expecting the former will be disappointed. Although the situation is unusual, the pace is that of real life during the less than two-hour running time. The conclusion is gut-wrenching. Shot in Oregon, Michael McDonagh's cinematography is lush and beautiful. Debra Granik was at the helm. She also directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Winter's Bone (2010), a JLaw flick I loved. She collaborated on that with Anne Rosellini, as she did on Leave No Trace. I hope to see more from these two. 17,000+ users at IMDb have rated the film, forging to a consensus of 7.2 on a scale of ten. My only disappointment was the lack of background, which could easily have been filled in during the testing scenes. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't recall anything being said about the girl's mom. Where is she? Dead? If living, did she abandon the family or was she abandoned? Maybe that's all in the novel on which it's based, My Abandonment by Peter Rock. Here's a still of the stars:

RIP George H. W. Bush, 94, who served his country in so many ways, including as a pilot during WWII. Unfortunately, he will be most remembered for his "Read my lips" statement. He agreed to raise taxes on the promise that there would be spending cuts and, of course, the jackals in Congress betrayed him. The economy stalled, which led to the elevation of the Clintons. Still, I never doubted that he was a good man. He joins his beloved Barbara on the other side. Here's a pic of him in his college baseball uniform, receiving an award from Babe Ruth:

What a turn of events for the Kansas City Chiefs and their fans, who have visions of Super Bowl dancing in their heads. RB Kareem Hunt, who led the league in rushing as a rookie last season, has been released because of a domestic violence issue that occurred in February. Although no charges were filed, he has lost his job, as video of the incident has surfaced. He behaved stupidly and brutishly, and these days that leads to dire consequences. Baltimore Ravens' RB Ray Rice never regained his job after socking his wife, who immediately forgave him. Hunt is probably a creep, but he is not in jail. Will he be prevented from earning a living in the field in which he excels? Isn't that wrong? On a humorous note, how long will it be before Bill Belichick is accused of leaking the damning footage?

Here's what sold today at the floating book shop: A King James Bible, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson; Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark; A Primer of Freudian Psychology; Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World by Lisa Bloom; a Russian translation of The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans; How to Think on Your Feet by Marion K. Woodall. My thanks to the kind folks who bought, and to the gentleman who donated two Christmas CD's.

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