Sydney Sweeney makes her mark in the new film "Echo Valley"

The quality of AppleTV+ films never matches that of its TV series offerings. This doesn’t mean its feature films are all disasters. In the case of Echo Valley, there is a potential that hasn’t been fully explored, leaving viewers with a promising family thriller that, however, never goes beyond the confines of the stable run by the protagonist Julianne Moore. Certainly, the intentions and investment in a work like the one directed by Michael Pearce are quite different from what one might expect from F1 - The Movie, also by AppleTV+, making a cinema appearance through Warner Bros. distribution. Yet, even while confined within the boundaries of Kate’s home and work, the film finds its own dignity, mostly thanks to Moore’s character and the unexpected directions she takes within the story.

Written by Brad Ingelsby, Echo Valley introduces us right away to the inert Kate, who is grieving a loss and must find the strength every morning just to get out of bed. The woman shows signs of depression, compounded by financial problems that lead her to ask her ex-husband for money – in a small cameo by actor Kyle MacLachlan – and her daughter Claire’s drug addiction, played by Sydney Sweeney. As her days pass by in monotonous routine, shoveling hay and listening to old recordings of her now-deceased wife, another rupture in her life comes when the young girl shows up one evening at her mother’s house covered in someone else's blood. Kate can only help her daughter, ending up entangled in a web of money and threats. But where she was slowly withering away, the event brings unexpected meaning to her life, for an improbable and shocking interlude, in the same place she was drowning in apathy.

The work's success is based on the writing and the effectiveness of the performances by its actors. Echo Valley doesn’t overly dramatize the relationship between Kate and Claire, instead focusing on the oft-explored theme of what one is willing to do to protect their children, striving to avoid clichés in the plot turns and dialogues between Moore and Sweeney. The unconditional love, which sometimes becomes so counterproductive that it turns toxic, defines the exchanges between the protagonists and shakes Kate out of the stagnation she’s fallen into, determined not to lose another loved one and forced to use her wits to figure things out. Claire’s ingratitude, emotional manipulation, and deceit influence her mother’s actions, who, in turn, finds in this new hardship an opportunity to act. Almost a reason to move forward.

While we already know Julianne Moore is talented, and here she operates within a comfort zone of familiar emotional tones, it’s Sydney Sweeney, altered by substance abuse, and Domhnall Gleeson, in another “dangerous” role after the 2022 miniseries The Patient, who leave a stronger impression. A criminal who exerts power over the weak, a shady figure with whom Kate must deal while trying to navigate corpses and large monetary demands. Intriguing in its simplicity, though not exactly thrilling, especially considering the solid script that director Michael Pearce could have taken more risks with, this AppleTV+ film gives more of a reason for the protagonist to finally stand back up than a compelling reason for the viewer to watch. A drama that avoids trivialising the mother-daughter relationship strained by addiction, yet keeps it confined within the four walls of their home.