‘Echo Valley’ & ‘The Ballad Of Wallis Island’ Showcase Love & Regret: At The Movies With Kasey
So many movies and shows these days focus on rich people behaving badly. To me, it is getting a bit dull. This week, however, I watched two movies about rich people with complex, human problems. And I checked out the latest from the creator of Succession.
In Echo Valley, Kate Garretson (Julianne Moore) is a horse farmer and riding instructor grieving the sudden death of her wife while trying to manage the ranch by herself. Then, her daughter, Claire (Sydney Sweeney), shows up on her doorstep. Claire’s struggles with addiction have reached a new low as she and her boyfriend, Ryan (Edmond Donovan), have gotten into major trouble with a threatening drug dealer, Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson). The perilous situation tests how far Kate will go in the name of unconditional love.
Maybe I need to consider my stress levels more, but Echo Valley made my chest tight for a good half hour. If you are also sensitive to cruelty toward animals, watch with caution. The contrasting performances between Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney also create an intense mood, supplementing the suspenseful plot. Moore plays Kate with quiet resignation, as a woman who has reserves of strength but, when we meet her, is quietly depressed. Sweeney gives Claire a volatile energy that swings between helpless and violent. Meanwhile, Domhnall Gleeson casts a menacing shadow over everyone. Fiona Shaw also appears as Kate’s friend Leslie adding a needed, grounding presence to her scenes.
It’s very stressful and the performances elevate a plot that otherwise could belong to a generic thriller. There are plenty of twists and turns that come together for a satisfying ending, if maybe a touch too quickly. Still, the pacing keeps the suspense at a steady level and I was moderately surprised by the resolution.
Although the plot of Echo Valley is dramatic enough for a Hollywood film, the tension comes from the impossible situation Claire repeatedly puts Kate in. Their dynamic illustrates the pain and conflicting feelings that many people endure when caught between helping and enabling a loved one suffering from addiction.
Echo Valley was written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Michael Pearce. It runs 104 minutes and is rated R. It is streaming on Apple TV+.
If you would rather watch something sweet, The Ballad of Wallis Island is streaming on Peacock. In this quirky comedy, Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), one half of the folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, arrives at a tiny island to play a gig set up by Charles Heath (Tim Key), an oddly sweet superfan. Little does he know, the gig is for an audience of one, and Charles has invited Herb’s estranged musical partner, Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). The pair’s reunion, and the introduction of Nell’s husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), raises old resentments and regrets as well as questions about Herb’s solo career.
The initial setup of this cast of characters feels a bit too weird, but once the pieces fall into place, the screenplay develops Charles into a surprisingly endearing figure and his good nature becomes a center-point for the dynamics between the other characters, delving into themes around grief, ambition, what makes life meaningful. Tom Basden’s portrayal of Herb pushes his grumpiness as far as he can without making him an irredeemable jerk. In contrast, Carey Mulligan gives Nell a lightness that allows her tougher moments to stand out. Tim Key plays Charles’s affable goofiness so steadily that as the audience adjusts more to the world of the story and sees Charles for his own sake instead of through Herb’s eyes, the transition parallels the thematic work of the plot in a beautiful way.
The Ballad of Wallis Island was written by Tom Basden and Tim Key and directed by James Griffiths. It runs 99 minutes and is rated PG-13.
In The Ballad of Wallis Island, Charles wins the lottery twice and uses the money to reunite his favorite musical group. That is absolutely quaint compared to the antics of billionaires in HBO’s Mountainhead. In the film, four tech CEOS, Randall (Steve Carell), Souper (Jason Schwartzman), Jeff (Ramy Youssef), and Ven (Cory Michael Smith), meet at a secluded mountain cabin as the world falls apart after the spread of AI-generated disinformation on Traam, a social media platform Ven owns.
Should they use the fact-checking software owned by Jeff to restore order? Should they fan the flames and stage a coup that puts them in charge of the world? Is there any way that Randall can use these relationships to find a transhumanist cure for his cancer? The problems are at once dystopian satire and a little too familiar. Although the actors are dynamic and talented, the characters are also dreadful and boring in the banality of their evil.
I hated this movie even as I saw it was a timely critique of the interplay between technology, society, and governance. The excellence of the production did not outweigh what a bummer it was to watch.
Mountainhead was written and directed by Jesse Armstrong. It runs 108 minutes and is rated TV-MA. It is streaming on Max.
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