review for Echoes of a Summer on AllMovie

While it's a bit too calculated in its efforts to tug at the heart strings, Echoes of a Summer is nevertheless an undeniably affecting little tearjerker. As it's dealing with a child dying of a terminal disease, it's to be expected that it will try to manipulate the audience, and some of it is very obvious in this regard -- but it works anyway. And on the plus side, Echoes features a number of scenes that help to undercut its soapier moments, including a touching and lovely segment in which Jodie Foster and Brad Savage have a (non-sexual) encounter on the beach which is quite well done. Foster's scenes with doctor William Windom also help to keep things above tear level. This kind of film rises or falls on its young victim, and Echoes has Foster giving a devastating yet tasteful performance; her emotions are so perfectly placed and so well tuned that she raises even the more maudlin moments into real drama. It's a beautifully calibrated, commanding performance. Savage and Windom are also quite good, as is Lois Nettleton as her mother. It's only Richard Harris that can't keep up, offering a mannered, one-note performance that becomes grating and threatens to capsize the whole thing. Fortunately, Foster is around to put things back on an even keel. She makes Echoes well worth watching.