'East Of Wall' A Review

East Of Wall is an indie drama about South Dakota horse trainer Tabatha Zimiga(playing herself) as she struggles with finances, a group of wayward teens she fosters, as well as unresolved grief. With most of the cast playing versions of themselves the film blends documentary and fiction to create a potent and effecting mood.

Zimiga is a compelling lead, she's strong but vulnerable, harsh but sensitive, if she's a bit rough around the edges acting wise that's understandable as she(and pretty much everyone) is a non-professional. But she's able to communicate the essence of who she is and her situation, she's able to achieve what Herzog calls the Ecstatic Truth. The same is true of the rest of the cast notably Zimiga's daughter Porshia who serves as the co-lead and narrator who seems more comfortable in front of the camera than her mother. The two professional actors are Jennifer Ehle as Zimiga's mother Tracey who's great to see and feels relatively authentic but certainly in the tradition of lauded character actors playing questionable working-class roles(see Frances McDormand in Nomadland and Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy). The other is Scoot McNairy who struggles to make his character more than a caricature, partly because he's not really up for it and partly because his inclusion in the script is pretty rote. The times spent with the main cast, the ones playing themselves, simply living their lives is really truly wonderful and that's where the bread-and-butter of the film lies.

Visually the film is kinda glorious. Sweeping plains, long tracking shots of the girls riding horses, fly-on-the-wall slice-of-life vignettes- it's all really beautiful and evocative. The soundtrack is contemporary and feels authentic to this group of people we're spending time with. If there's a fault it is that, at times, the dialogue feels a bit clunky and the plot machinations with McNairy's character feel unnecessary or contrived. This is counterbalanced by the many many effective, moving, honest scenes that weave throughout, particularly a scene towards the end where Zimiga finally opens up in a circle of other women. 

A bold and inspiring debut from writer/director Kate Beecroft.

See It.