“The Rider” came out a handful of years back. It was a semi-autobiographical film about a rodeo rider who got hurt riding. It was directed by Chloe Zhao. East of Wall is a very similar type of film.It’s another semi-autobiographical movie with a narrative attached to it. It has real people playing versions of themselves and established actors playing characters alongside them. If I hadn’t seen “The Rider” not too long ago, I wouldn’t believe something like this was possible in today’s film industry. Like that movie, this one is excellent. 

Tabatha (Tabatha Zimiga) is a single mother who lives on a large ranch in South Dakota. She is a horse trainer. This is her sole source of income. She lives with her mother, Tracey (Jennifer Ehle), and a handful of rebellious kids. The kids help out with the horses. She struggles financially, though, so she has to try and sell the horses to keep afloat. When a rich rancher from Texas, Roy Waters (Scoot McNairy), comes to buy some horses from her, he also offers to help her get some financial stability. He sees some talent in her teenage daughter Porshia (Porshia Zimiga) and gets her to help sell the horses. 

This film is written/directed by Kate Beecroft. She was able to capture the lives of these people perfectly with the narrative she was going for. As a son of a mother who struggled to take care of four children, I know it is hard for a mother. I witnessed it firsthand when I was a kid. Especially when a father isn’t around much or deceased like in this film. The constant struggle to feed many mouths is a neverending battle for any woman, let alone one who has seven children to feed, clothes, and take care of. She has a little help but not much. These kids look up to her. It’s a hard burden to bear for anybody. Beetroot captures that struggle exceptionally well in this movie.

As aforementioned, Tabitha is playing a version of herself. There are a handful of scenes where the viewers can see the inner struggle she’s having with herself. She easily gets mad at her mother for letting her three year old son watch horror films while in her care. She lashes out at the kids if they do something wrong, like steal traffic barrels for  horse riding competition practice. She mainly gets mad at Porshia, though, who is like most teenage girls. She moody and blames her mom for things she doesn’t know anything about. This is for a family tragedy that happened three years prior. I see the anguish in her face and eyes in every scene of this film. It’s a real struggle.

Porshia now is a different story. Yes, she blames her mother for what happened in the past, but she also knows she’s great at horse riding competitions. Similar in a way, if a boy/girl was great at baseball, football, or basketball. She has a chip on her shoulder as great athletes do at this age. Also, the fact that she’s a girl and has an angry streak in her doesn’t help matters regarding her issues with her mother. I’ve seen this sort of thing a lot of times before in movies. It’s because it’s a trope that works over and over again. Beecroft, the writer/director, pulls on that tension like a person would on a horse reign. It’s a great comparison to this story. Also, her narration helped give good information to the viewers watching the film.

Scoot McNairy is an actor I haven’t seen much over the years, but when I do see him, he impresses me. Whether he’s playing the protagonist or antagonist, he comes across as being very realistic in his portrayal of said character. Here, I believed he genuinely cared for the woman and her plight, but he definitely had an ulterior motive behind his actions. He came across well versed in horsetraining and buying and selling horses. He knew what he was doing in the context of the story, that’s for sure. When he first appeared on screen, I knew he was going to be an important character to the film, and he was. He helped drive the narrative forward, which worked well. He served his purpose in the overall story very well.

With a film set in South Dakota in the summer on a ranch such as the one in the film, you get great cinematography.  The landscapes are filmed beautifully. There are many scenes where the cameras are looking out at a landscape that is green with a vein system left by waters that aren’t there anymore. I was blown away by how gorgeous the scenery was in the movie. It’s like a character in and of itself. Also, the horse riding competitions were filmed exceptionally well. I felt like I was in the ring place where the horses were being ridden or shown to a crowd. The editing of these sequences worked so well opposite the riding scenes. I’m not that familiar with horse riding, but I learned a lot about training them and so forth in this film. The beautiful scenery was juxtaposed to the hard times the characters were having getting by in their normal everyday lives. Even tiktok came into play in this story.

East of Wall was an eye-opener. It shed some light on a world I wasn’t that familiar with. Except, of course, for the single mother taking care of a bunch of kids. I knew about that quite well. All of the actors who played variations on themselves did a great job. Especially Tabatha and Porshia. They were excellent in their roles as mother and daughter. The real actors did terrific as well. They served a purpose within the construct of the film’s narrative. The cinematography and editing were exceptionally well crafted. Beecroft wrote/directed this movie with skill and precision. She honestly had me caring about something I couldn’t care less about. That’s an achievement if I ever saw one.This is a fantastic semi-autobiographical film.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen