Echo Valley | The Deight Night Review

 

Apple TV+’s latest weapon in the ongoing straight-to-streaming movies arms race comes in the form of Echo Valley, a small scale film that tackles big emotional themes with its main cast's fractured and tragic mother/daughter relationship. Julianne Moore plays Kate Garrett, a recently widowed wife who runs a riding school and horse boarding facility in the American countryside. One day her daughter, Claire (Sydney Sweeney) who's had a lot of trouble with drug addiction, returns home after having an argument with her boyfriend and throwing all of his things in a river. It's all a bit of a joke to Claire until the mysterious and far from salubrious Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives at the Garrett household demanding the contents of the bag that Claire threw away. What follows tests the limits of Kate's love for her daughter and how far Claire is willing to go to get what she wants. 

Echo Valley's strength lies in its interpersonal drama and the heart of this is the relationship between Moore's Kate and Sweeney's Claire. The mother/daughter bond between the two has clearly been fractured by the latter's drug abuse, but it's clear that Kate's everlasting love for her daughter remains strong. Julianne Moore provides a breathtaking performance as a woman who really has lost everything and pushes through everyday with the constant pain of the loss of her wife and the loss of innocence in her beloved little girl. This inner pain lets itself be seen in various scenes throughout the film. The one that would be on Moore's Oscar nomination reel though would have to be one where she argues with her daughter who's demanding more money for "food and supplies" but Kate knows what she really means. The despondent mother bemoans the fact that all her money went towards paying to make Claire better but that that was clearly a waste of money. This scene is possibly the emotional peak of the film, it's tough to watch but perfectly encapsulates a family torn apart by addiction. 

That scene though is also a showcase of Sydney Sweeney's terrifying and burning portrayal of Claire. Sweeney hasn't had the decades worth of acting experience to show off her abilities like her seasoned co-star Moore but in Echo Valley she proves to be an encapsulating dramatic performer. She lends herself perfectly to the role of a broken and lost young woman who acts purely out of self interest and is more than capable to stoop to some serious depths to protect her own interests. Sweeney is on the verge of becoming our generation's Marilyn Monroe, she's the apple of everyone's eye and she's very much aware of that fact (with all her self-referencial advert appearances, SNL Sketches and questionable personalised "merchandise") but, like the tragic Hollywood legend, she proves time and again that she isn't just a pretty face and is very much capable of tackling tough characters. While surprisingly conservatively spread around the film, Sweeney's performance as Claire will certainly be remembered as one of the highlights of the actor's rise to Hollywood glory. 

As a story, Echo Valley has its fair share of shocking twists and turns. It's never obvious what's going to happen next and a lot of scenes take you by surprise, resulting in a very satisfactory roller coaster of a film. Where a lot of the film's success derives is its commitment to perspective, aside from one or two scenes, the film is completely from the point of view of Julianne Moore's Kate. Any events that occur outside Moore's perview are told to her by other characters, but mostly Claire. This adds to the film's themes of distrust, as many of the occurrences that are told to Kate turn out to be untrue, giving the film an uneasy tone with a good use of a sort of unreliable narrator format. Echo Valley therefore starts off as a familial drama about drug addiction and then becomes an almost Hitchcockian thriller about blame and manipulation. With that in mind, it goes without saying that the film should be experienced going in blind to get the full power of its story. 

The film isn't perfect though and does have its fair share of pacing issues. There's one particularly big reveal (which won't be spoiled here) near the end of the film which, while satisfying in the end, takes a long time to get to. The editing in a lot of places could definitely be better, but in the third act its weaknesses become the most obvious. This isn't forgetting, however, that Echo Valley's opening is a very cliched shot of Julianne Moore waking up from a dream - the tiring trope of starting a story at the beginning of the main character's day, thankfully the film doesn't then show Kate having her morning cereal. 

Echo Valley's weakest link is its main villain, Jackie, who isn't really intimidating and is actually more of an annoyance. His motivation comes down to just simply wanting more and more money and isn't particularly intelligent. Given the character's personality and "profession", the way he comes across could very well have been intentional but it doesn't result in someone who's enjoyable to watch. The reason for this is hard to pin down but it's possible that Domhnall Gleeson was miscast in the role. As General Hux in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, his appearance lends itself to the weak looking but strong willed fascist. Here, in a role that's basically Jesse Pinkman gone bad, his look doesn't quite fit. Nevertheless, Gleeson acts as best he can and has his fair share of great moments but it's hard not to think of what this role could have been had it been given to someone who simply looked the part. 

Apple TV+'s catalogue continues to grow and improve, with shows and films filled to brim with the very best that Hollywood has to offer. While Echo Valley isn't destined for the same sort of status as Severance and Ted Lasso, it still provides an excellently made dramatic thriller that gives a seasoned veteran in Julianne Moore and an exciting up and comer in Sydney Sweeney an almost equal chance to show off their talents. While it doesn't always stick the landing and wastes some of the talent of its supporting cast, it's nonetheless worth the watch for some tough scenes and an exciting story. 

★★★1/2

Echo Valley starts streaming on Apple TV+ in the UK from June 13th