'Echo Valley' review: Julianne Moore as a desperate mother isn't the one biting the dust

Apple Original Films

Like they say: there's no gift like a child unless said child turns out to be a complete disaster and only brings sadness into your life. No one knows more about that than Kate Garretson (Julianne Moore), the main character in the new thriller drama Echo Valley. Kate is a horse riding instructor living alone on her Pennsylvanian farm, mourning the recent death of her wife whilst struggling with finances. Making matters worse is the fact that her daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) has been off-the-radar, having seemingly relapsed as a drug addict. However, Claire returns home briefly before running away with her no-good boyfriend Ryan Sinclair (Edmund Donovan), before returning once again but doing so covered in blood this time. Kate helps to bury her daughter's secrets until they attract the attention of Jackie Lawson (Domnhall Gleeson), Claire and Ryan's sleazy dealer who sees an opportunity for good ol' blackmail.

There's a lot of dourness and helplessness setting things in motion right from the very first few frames since Kate tussles with a sense of loneliness, perhaps for the first time in her life, as well as the broken connection with Claire who Kate might consider a complete stranger by this point, someone entirely different from the child she raised. Carrying all of this in her heart and on her skin, Moore is oftentimes single-handedly elevating the drama from the land of tolerable yet forgettable to something vaguely real and decent. Brad Ingelsby's screenplay is on shaky ground as far as the explorations of the boundaries of a mother's love and addiction go—meaning that the characters aren't strong enough on the page to make it all work—but Moore is giving all that she has as an actor to translate the desperation, worry and smarts that Kate possesses when she's trying to hold onto some sort of normalcy in her life, like being a mom.

Looking at the rest of the cast, Sweeney is shackled by the monotonous role she's given here, which is a shame since that mother-daughter connection is supposed to give the film emotional stakes. Gleeson gets to flex a bit more once the story turns into a battle of wits between Jackie and Kate during the second half, which also gives Fiona Shaw (as Kate's friend Leslie Oliver) more screen time and she's reliable like always. Director Michael Pearce keeps things simple, often too simple and the movie could've used some pizazz to differentiate it from other modern thrillers, whether in regard to composer Jed Kurzel's score or cinematographer Benjamin Kračun's camera movement, but nothing about the filmmaking or tone is incompetent. It's workmanlike, it's a tight 100-minute ride, plus the outwitting and revelations towards the end inject a different kind of energy into the story, even if some of it is ludicrous and nothing super surprising.

A modest, well put together and solidly performed movie is nothing to scoff at, although it definitely won't set the world or even a stable on fire once people see it; Moore is really the glue that holds the whole thing together. With such talented individuals in front of and behind the camera, you do have higher expectations and while the picture doesn't reach its full potential at any point, I doubt anyone truly considers it a waste of their time either. Sometimes projects just don't coalesce fully. Mother's love will only get you so far.

Smileys: Julianne Moore

Frowneys: None

You want 10k? In this economy? Hold your horses, dude.

3.0/5

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