British director Michael Pearce has twice proven himself a sophisticated, surprising crafter of thrillers, having previously helmed Jessie Buckley’s sinister breakthrough feature Beast in 2017 and Riz Ahmed’s sci-fi piece Encounter in 2021_._ With Echo Valley, Pearce continues his run of eliciting excellent performances from top actors. This time, he tackles the story of grief-stricken Kate (Julianne Moore, superb) and the malign influence of mendacious drug-addict daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) when she returns to the family farm in rural Pennsylvania after a short period of estrangement.
Kate — skint because she can’t face teaching horse-riding, some six months after the death of her wife Patty — is already having trouble paying for a new barn roof when Claire arrives asking for more money. (It’s never specified what Claire is addicted to, but heroin is implied.) Even Kate’s ex-husband Richard (Kyle MacLachlan) has been dragged in to help with their financial situation. It’s a smart start: laying the groundwork for a high-grade addiction drama, before switching gears. We detour into thriller territory when Claire’s junkie boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan) appears, livid and frightened after Claire throws away a kilo of drugs belonging to their villainous friend – or, perhaps, just dealer – Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson).
Domhnall Gleeson's unsettling presence is useful fuel for the film’s dramatic engine.
Gleeson has a delicious time as brute Jackie. His unsettling presence is useful fuel for the film’s dramatic engine. We’ve seen grieving mother-and-addict-daughters often on screen and need something spicy to enliven proceedings. After Claire and Ryan trick Kate into some nefarious dealings involving a dead body, Sweeney isn’t on screen much – a shame, given the believably tormented, untrustworthy turn she puts in until that point. It’s also a pity MacLachlan has only one scene. Luckily, Gleeson is matched in presence by Kate’s profane pal Leslie, a mighty performance by Fiona Shaw who provides rare moments of humour. There’s also a little exploration of Kate’s life as a lesbian to give added texture.
Moore and Gleeson dominate the final act as Jackie aims to extort Kate. Some developments may remind viewers of insuperable neo-noir The Last Seduction, though Echo Valley can’t reach those heights. Partly, this can be attributed to the occasional unlikely plot contrivance but also because of repeated product placement. Mobile devices, their accessories and software can obviously help in stories like this, but when the film’s distributor is the world’s biggest tech company, repeated scenes of their products being used feel a little galling. Writer Brad Ingelsby and Pearce have the talent not to lean so heavily on such tools in an otherwise engaging tale.
