Film: Echo Valley
Cast: Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan,  Fiona Shaw, Edmund Donovan
Director: Michael Pearce
Rating: * * 
Runtime: 104 min

This new thriller drama has Kate Garrettson (Julianne Moore), a horse riding instructor, living alone on her farm, mourning the recent death of her wife, whilst struggling with finances. In comes frequent runaway Claire (Sydney Sweeney), her drug-addled daughter, covered in blood, and her no-good boyfriend Ryan Sinclair (Edmund Donovan). Kate helps bury her daughter's secrets until Jackie Lawson (Domnhall Gleeson), Claire and Ryan’s sleazy dealer, seizes the opportunity for some fast cash through good ol’ blackmail.

Set against the lush hills of rural Pennsylvania, this movie is about survival. It’s a slow-burning unravelling of a mother who is forced to make choices that she otherwise wouldn’t have made.

Writer Brad Ingelsby and Director Pearce paint a vivid portrait of distress and depression, with Kate struggling with chores and bills to pay. Claire’s destructive ways only make it worse. Claire’s return to the family fold energises Kate for a bit, but the shadow of trouble is not far away. Kate is pulled back into Claire’s darkness, having to deal with Jackie, who is demanding repayment for his destroyed stash.