Echo Valley Review
Echo Valley feels like a time capsule: a film from a bygone era that just either doesn’t see the light of day any more or, because of the dominance of monolithic blockbusters or megabucks ion projects, the art of the mid-budget film is a distant memory. They thrived in the 80s and 90s: you could make a killing at the box office with the relatively modest cost of such films outweighing those more substantial projects, and the rewards could be plentiful. Indeed, cast the right people and you could have an old-fashioned sleeper hit on your hands that would cross the $100million domestic box office total that so many strived for.
Now, streaming is the only place to get such adult-orientated films outside of awards season, and it’s perhaps one of the few things we should be grateful for in our new consuming paradigms. The film is getting a small cinema release, thanks to Apple, and it’s worth seeking out on the good old big screen.
Julianne Moore plays Kate Garrett, owner of a farm in the southern regions of Pennsylvania and horse trainer, something she used to do with her wife, who has since ed. One night, her estranged and unstable daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) returns to the farm and is startled: she is covered in someone else’s blood and feverishly panicking about something that has occurred on a night out with her on-off boyfriend. Upon hearing what may have transpired, Kate must decide whether to help her daughter, who has a history of histrionics, or if this is just another episode she has to deal with.
God, it’s good to have a good thriller with genuine twists, turns and characters you actually care about. Welcome back, it’s been a while. Still, perhaps we should have expected good things from those behind the camera. Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching Mare of Easttown, Our Friend, American Woman or The Way Back (amongst others) will be familiar, at least ostensibly, with writer Brad Inglesby and his prowess for creating engaging landscapes and gripping narratives, and Echo Valley is no different. Yes, there are some traps it falls into by the sheer nature of genre conventions, but Ingelsby does a good job of avoiding the majority of them and producing some surprises that will keep audiences on tenterhooks.
“It raises pressing questions about parenthood, morality, choice and just how far you are prepared to go for your children, even in their darkest days, and, while these are all themes which have been explored extensively in Adolescence, most recently, for example, Echo Valley is still very much its own beast. Kudos to director Michael Pearce, who, with just his third feature, has already shown his third talents and with Valley really hits his stride as a filmmaker. This time round, he rivals his stunning debut Beast with a film that’s not only supremely assured and confident, but visually compelling from the first stark frame to its final riveting moments
A film like this, though, lives and dies on its performances, and the ensemble is uniformly fantastic. Julianne Moore is never anything but compelling and showcases yet again why she is one of the best to ever do it. Sweeney, meanwhile, has been taking some riskier roles outside of the Anyone but You euphoria (see what we did there?) and, like her brilliant turn in Reality last year, continues to ascend into the stratosphere with another mature and smartly woven performance.
Less effective is Gleeson’s one-note bad guy, despite the actor’s usual magnetism, and while he might be having a ball playing on the darker side, this and his turn in Guy Ritchie’s ponderous Fountain of Youth suggest he needs to be a little pickier from now on. If that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, you get The Greatest ing Actor Of All Time in Fiona Shaw for good measure, and when is she ever anything but magnificent? Like Moore, she never fails to impress, and yet again, her elegance and panache are electrifying. The film is excellent enough, but you add Fiona Shaw in the mix and… Bonanza!
★★★★
In select cinemas and Apple TV+ on June 13th / Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson, Fiona Shaw, Kyle Maclachlan / Dir: Michael Pearce / Apple / 15
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