When it comes to relationships between parents and their children there is a sense of comfort and empathy surrounding that bond. There is also that time when a parent chooses to push themselves to the limit to protect their children. Directed by Michael Pearce, Echo Valley is a film with a rough dynamic that feels real and vigorously carries the weaving component of detrimental stress. It takes place in a vast landscape that is on a farm setting. Livelihood is a bucolic aspect of this scene, but then that gets interrupted by turmoil between a mother and a daughter. Kate (Julianne Moore) is the mother and Claire (Sydney Sweeney) is the daughter. A dynamic of hardship that rattles love to a level that is one of a heartache. 

Kate lives her life on a farm where she trains horses. Her daughter Claire is coming back for a visit and she is notorious for drugs and lots of other mischievous behavior. Kate has always bailed Claire out of her problems, but this one gets very out of hand. There is a life-threatening accident involving drugs, betrayal and debt which puts Claire in trouble and Kate along with her.  Kate does not have to involve herself, but she chooses to protect her daughter.

The writing and continuity of lies creates an unsettling atmosphere. Claire’s error is one that boils the screen with the anxiety it provokes. This is because one dangerous man comes around to settle for Claire’s mistakes. His name is Jackson, played by Domhnall Gleeson. He is a manipulator and not a good person—a dealer that lies and tries to turn the table by putting Claire’s mess onto Kate to clean up. Despite it all being Claire’s bad choices, Kate chooses to take much of it into her own hands. Motherly dedication is one that is brutally portrayed and captivating. Moore digs deep here to play a mother that will not be messed with.

Echo Valley carries uniqueness that displays how a trail of lies can also have its gains for good and bad intentions. Kate uses it for “good” and Jackie uses it for “bad.” However, it all comes down to the choices of Kate as well. The farm setting poses the threat of their livelihood being at risk and the chance of Claire falling into despair. The screenplay is written with depth that keeps mingling the anxiety to the core of Echo Valley. I keptdesperately wanting Kate to be the good mother and Claire to find a way to get her act together. The directing of Pearce creates these two sides to make its audience feel the hardship of their relationship carried to immersive heights in Echo Valley.

Moore and Sweeney bring the mother and daughter duo of love and sacrifice to an artistic level of achievement. The film has its moments of trying too hard to become dramatic with an abusive context. I will say some of it kept its pacing, but at the same time, the light can come sooner in many incidents.  I told myself in these moments that it always gets worse before it gets better. Regardless, there is light, but there is also patience and repetition to be cultivated before “light” can shine brighter for resolution in Echo Valley. Three out of four stars.