ECHO VALLEY
Starring: Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan, Fiona Shaw, Edmund Donovan, and Rebecca Creskoff
Director: Michael Pearce
QUENTIN
While Echo Valley certainly goes over the top with some of its twists and turns, I can’t deny I enjoyed each and every patently ridiculous, get-the-fuck-outta-here moment. The cast deserves most of the credit for that enjoyment because they keep their performances grounded and (generally) believable even as the story goes for broke with big swings that would be right at home in a soap opera. This movie could have easily devolved into predictable and campy melodrama, but Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, and Domhnall Gleeson will it to be something better. It truly caught me by surprise with how it all plays out.
ADRIANO
I counted at least seven different movies in Echo Valley. I certainly see the intrigue of what director Michael Pearce and writer Brad Ingelsby were shooting for, trying to give us a dark look at what a parent will do to protect their child, and Julianne Moore is excellent; however, this would have benefited from being a limited series since so many drastically rushed plot jumps happen in order to get to an even more rushed “gotcha” moment that felt uncharacteristic. Its stale look and retreading of tropes make this mess quickly forgettable.
KATIE
Echo Valley appears to begin as a standard drama about a parent struggling with a child battling drug addiction, but turns out to offer a lot more. The bleakness can sometimes feel overwhelming, but luckily, it’s driven by Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney’s electrifying performances. Moore is deeply moving as the grieving mother who would do anything to protect her daughter, and Sweeney’s fierce performance swings from frenzied rage to seemingly like an innocent child. Overall, Echo Valley is compelling, has gripping performances, and provides a satisfying resolution despite some ridiculous plot contrivances.
ROBERT
For the first act of Echo Valley, I was getting real The Horse Whisperer meets Thirteen vibes, with a splash of Stepmom. However, the turn in the second and third acts completed a tonal shift I didn’t think possible, but was glad they perpetrated, as I was infinitely more invested after that. There were some logical leaps that string you along until the end, but the beauty of the agrarian landscape and the performances of the three leads (Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson) keep you contained within the world crafted so that you always feel reined into its environment.
BODE
Films like Echo Valley tend to frustrate me, because you can see what it could’ve been if it were more surefooted in its efforts to strike the balance between the couple different movies it wants to be (in this case, it’s caught between being a pulpy, twisty thriller, and a drama focused on familial grief and addiction). Because director Michael Pearce seems to struggle with this (and writer Brad Inglesby’s script is fairly clumsy to begin with), the movie, while not unwatchable thanks to its cast, comes up pretty half-baked and, even with a satisfying conclusion, instantly forgettable.
