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‘East of Wall’ Review: Three Generations of South Dakota Women Put a New Face on the Western
Tucked away in the NEXT section of Sundance, Kate Beecroft’s artful debut reveals the strength and struggles of a South Dakota ranch family.
In the tradition of Chloé Zhao’s “The Rider,” this eye-opening 21st-century Western was inspired by real people: Debuting writer-director Beecroft convinced the Zimiga family — most notably single mom Tabitha and her TikTok star, rodeo queen daughter Porshia — to participate in an drama extrapolated from their own lives, all but rewriting the genre with the result. By Porshia’s own account (whispered over quiet segments of the film, à la naive-child narration in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” right down to the roiling-earth sound effects), John taught her to ride and served as a better father to the kids than her biological dad did. No wonder he admires her: Compared to her own loose-cannon mom (whom Ehle plays as a wild spirit with a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit), Tabitha has brought order to the land, the livestock and the ragged chosen family that surrounds her.
Or read this on Variety
