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| Images courtesy Shudder |
Hunter White (Alicia von Rittberg) has an interesting past. She was abandoned in a cemetery as a baby, and adopted by the police officer who responded to the call reporting this incident. Hunter is now about to start college, and while her adoptive father has been good to her, she wants to learn more about her birth parents. After doing research and a DNA test, she becomes fairly certain that her roots are in Norway, so she secretly travels there to uncover the mysteries of her past.
She suspects Cecilia (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) – a Norwegian death metal singer who was playing in her town the night she was abandoned – might be her mother and tracks her down at a club. After an initially chilly reception, Cecilia warms up to Hunter and reveals that while she is not her mother, she thinks she knows who her parents are. Hunter begins to follow the breadcrumbs Cecilia lays out for her, and the journey takes some unexpected turns from there. Alex Herron’s Leave is an exploration of a girl’s desire to learn about her past, and the darkness that unfurls with the more knowledge that she gains.
The cast of characters in this film are compelling and multi-dimensional. Alicia von Rittberg does a solid job of holding the film together as the young lead actress, and the supporting characters are played with heart. Morten Holst does an especially interesting performance as Kristian, Cecilia’s now-institutionalized former bass player, whom she suspects is Hunter’s actual father. Well-rounded characters and some decent cinematography are at the core of Leave, and for the most part, they both ground the film and make it intriguing enough to maintain at least some level of interest throughout the film. Alex Herron, who is also Norwegian and comes from a background directing music videos, is a perfect choice to create a visually gripping film featuring a metal band, and it’s an added bonus that his direction for the actors is equally solid in his feature film debut.
Nevertheless, this film has a tendency to tease a tale that is far more fascinating than the one that actually unravels. The scenes at the beginning depicting the night baby Hunter was abandoned in the graveyard suggest that something cult-like and deeply ominous is amiss. This is further driven home by recurring nightmares Hunter has featuring an evil presence commanding her to “leave.” Scenes like that set the backdrop for a film where some menacing, supernatural presence is afoot, but the reality of the situation is far more mundane than that. Outside of these few aforementioned scenes, very little happens that feels befitting for a story with a death metal band, flashing satanic imagery in stylized ways and hinting at demons haunting Hunter’s dreams.
Unfortunately, the film it feels like they are building up to would have been far more exciting than the film that actually plays out. Leave instead chooses a more down-to-earth trajectory, making a commentary about the dangers of religious fanaticism without much else. There’s some welcomed subversion of expectations regarding who the heroes and villains ultimately are in this story, but it doesn’t feel entirely satisfying in the end.
While some misdirection has the potential to build a more complex, captivating plot, there’s a lingering sense that viewers have been cheated out of a more interesting film with Leave’s subdued approach. This thriller is little more than an underwhelming drama following Hunter around asking various people questions until a bit of excitement happens at the climax. While it has some redeeming qualities, the story simply isn’t there, making Leave a disappointing watch for anyone expecting demonic thrills or metal-infused malevolence.
—Andrea Riley