Producers: Lila Yacoub, Kate Beecroft, Melanie Ramsayer and Shannon Moss Director: Kate Beecroft Screenplay: Kate Beecroft Cast: Tabatha Zimiga, Porshia Zimiga, Scoot McNairy, Jennifer Ehle, Jesse Thorson, Chancey Ryder Witt, Clay Pateneaude, Leanna Shumpert, Brynn Darling, Wyatt Mansfield, Stetson Neumann, Traden Lockwood, Don “Gummer” Garnier, Renee Mousseaux, Brett Fly Sr., Ryan Caraway, Haley Strode, Lori Ann Reed, Amy Shedeed, Angela Heinze, Tracey Osmotherly, Janis Schell, Cheryl Walker, Lisa Anderson-Pelton, Patsy R. Tines, Jace Thompson, Jason Mathis, Parker Rain Hill, Ryan M. Hall and Bradley Otte Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Grade: B-
Situated somewhere between biographical documentary and fictional drama, Kate Beecroft’s portrait of Tabatha Zimiga, a South Dakota horse rancher (some would say whisperer) with a penchant for serving as a surrogate mother to homeless local kids while raising her own and trying to keep her 3,000-acre spread afloat, exudes a mood of fly-on-the-wall realism while keeping the viewer guessing about what’s true and what’s made-up. “East of Wall” is an insightful but ragged portrait of some marginalized but proud Americans in a beautiful but austere environment, impressive for its reach yet meandering and often very slow.
Beecroft spent years interacting with Zimiga, her daughter Porshia and the rest of her brood on the family spread in the Badlands while constructing her script, a mixture of observation and invention. Most of the cast, like Tabatha and Porshia, are non-professionals, but there are exceptions, one of whom is Jennifer Ehle as Tracey, Tabatha’s hard-bitten moonshiner mother, who lives with Tabatha, her granddaughter, and Tabatha’s sons Skylar (Wyatt Mansfield) and three-year old Stetson (Stetson Neumann), as well as her current partner Clay (Clay Pateneaude). Tabatha’s a widow who’s quietly grieving the death of her husband John, the stepfather whom Porshia idolizes as having been the true father figure who taught her to “really ride.” The girl resents her mother’s refusal to discuss John’s death, as she makes clear in voiceovers, and frequently acts out as a result.
Tabatha acts to protect not only the feral and rescued horses she trains for sale at auctions in nearby Wall and on TikTok—events at which Porshia performs acrobatic stunts on the animals to encourage bidding—but also local kids who, for various reasons, have been left to their own devices by parents unable or unwilling to care for them. It’s an avocation that’s put further strain on the family’s finances, which are fragile to begin with; a court case that threatens Tabatha’s effort to win guardianship over another stray, Jesse (Jesse Thorson), is frustrated by her own income troubles.
A possible solution arrives with Roy Waters (Scott McNairy), a wealthy cowboy from Fort Worth who shows up pulling a huge trailer with his pickup and is impressed by Tabatha’s way with the horses and Porshia’s riding skills. He makes an offer to buy the spread, which would solve Tabatha’s financial crisis, and promises that he’d leave the running of the place in her capable hands. But in a trial period during which he stays with the family, he sometimes shows a domineering attitude, and his encouragement of Porshia can be excessive—something that leads earth-mother Tracey to have a stern heart-to-heart with him.
Roy’s treatment of Porshia, it’s eventually explained, is rooted in a tragedy in his own past, and the reason behind Tabatha’s inability to cope with John’s death is also revealed late on, in a sequence that will strike some viewers as truthfully raw and others as somewhat melodramatic, in which she and other local woman share memories of happy times and the far more frequent cruel ones. Porshia’s overhearing of her mother’s confession provides one of the film’s major resolutions; Tabatha’s final decision about Roy’s offer is the other.
“East of Wall” is a rambling account of these characters’ interactions, but the emotional currents it feeds into feel very authentic, and one comes to care about everyone in it, not only the main figures but those who appear more fleetingly; the film treats the overarching theme of loss, both past and present, in myriad powerful ways. The performances are extraordinary, given that most come from amateurs—a sure sign of Beecroft’s skill with actors—and she integrates Ehle and McNairy into the ensemble without a false move.
On the technical side, Austin Shelton’s widescreen cinematography is remarkable, capturing the barren beauty of the locale (a shot of distant lightning in the evening sky as two characters converse is unforgettable, made more effective by Sergio Diaz’s sound design), while Theo Cohn’s art direction evokes the ramshackle, cluttered nature of the Zimiga ranch and Christina Blackaller’s costumes are entirely convincing. So are the scenes with the horses, for which head wrangler Traden Lockwood deserves recognition. And while Jennifer Vecchiarello’s editing sometimes feels dilatory and brusque, it’s in line with Beecroft’s deliberate pacing. Lukas Frank and Daniel Meyer-O’Keefe add to the atmosphere with a score that intelligently holds back.
“East of Wall” is a small film with some large issues on its mind, and its commingling of truth and fiction, while at times a bit clumsy, carries real resonance.