"East of Wall"

  ☆☆½ 

The indie vibe that suffuses many major film festivals is at the heart of East of Wall, an intriguing and not altogether successful blend of fiction and reality, a documentary that tells a story, or a story that fits into a documentary. Without the big question-and-answer sessions that follow most film festival screenings, it's difficult for an audience to know quite what to make of this film, though that doesn't mean it fails. Not quite.

East of Wall "stars" Tabatha Zimiga and Porshia Zimiga, who are real people whose lives on a horse ranch in South Dakota form the basis of the movie. Tabatha is the matriarch of the farm, Porshia is her oldest daughter, and together they are part of an expansive, eclectic household of many, many children, some of whom were adopted by Tabatha, others of whom live with her in loose relationships.

Tabatha trains wild horses, then sells them at auction. After the death of her husband, Tabatha is struggling. The film feels a little bit like a documentary, but not quite, and for anyone who doesn't know what to expect — for instance, for those who didn't read about it in a film festival program — it's an odd an unsettling experience.

I went into East of Wall with no awareness of it whatsoever — it screened as part of AMC's "Screen Unseen" program, which presents movies before they open without revealing the titles. I walked into East of Wall not even knowing what movie I was going to watch, much less anything about its genesis, and I couldn't figure it out. The performers seemed simultaneously authentic and stilted, like they were reality show contestants trying to recreate moments from their own lives.

It turns out, that's pretty much exactly what East of Wall is — neither fiction nor cinema verité documentary, it's an uncomfortable but sometimes affecting exercise in creating docudrama with real people. And some not-real people. For instance, actress Jennifer Ehle plays Tabatha's mother. Actor Scoot McNairy plays a wealthy Texan who tries to convince Tabatha to sell her farm to him.

Other real people appear, sometimes acting out written scenes, sometimes letting the camera capture their lives, and it's never quite clear what's what.

The story sort of meanders along without much plot — which is odd. Writer-director Kate Beecroft has invested a lot of passion in making her story feel authentic and real, as if it weren't scripted. But it is. So, why make a movie utterly devoid of the kind of storytelling beats that work best in movies? Why create a story that's both hard to follow and lacking in tension?

Which isn't to say that East of Wall doesn't have some fine things to recommend it, including the quasi-performance (or is that performance-based reality) of Tabatha Zimiga in the lead role. She's playing herself, mostly convincingly, and she's quite a character — bold, independent, strong-willed, yet vulnerable. When the movie finally gets where it's going (which, truth be told, isn't very far), it's hard not to feel a little proud of this woman for what she accomplishes.

As a slice of modern Americana, a look at the way people live amid desolation and hardship, it's never uninteresting. It will probably best appeal to people who love horses and the broad, uninterrupted vistas of the midwest — the movie is partly set in the surreal, windswept crags of the Badlands. Whether that audience is likely ever to encounter this movie is a legitimate question. For those who harbor less affinity for its setting or its subjects, East of Wall may be a struggle.

Viewed August 4, 2025 — AMC Burbank 16

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