
Review: ‘Companion’ Finds Humanity, And It’s Not Pretty
January 31, 2025Interview: J.B. Smoove Takes on Hosting Duties for “Buy it Now”
January 31, 2025Docu-fiction is a tricky space because it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s real and what’s invented. But in the best cases, it doesn’t matter because the story just works, and there’s a tremendous authenticity to it. With her debut feature, writer-director Kate Beecroft has done exactly that, crafting a screenplay based on real people she met and having them play themselves in the contemplative, meaningful drama East of Wall, a film that truly gets to know its characters and see their experiences and lives play out on screen.
Just east of Wall, South Dakota, Tabatha (Tabatha Zimiga) lives on a ranch with her teenage daughter Porshia (Porshia Zimiga) and a handful of other kids, some who are hers and others who aren’t her own but whose parents think Tabatha can better provide for them than they can. Tabatha lost her husband recently, and while her new partner Clay (Clay Pateneaude) is by her side and her mother Tracey (Jennifer Ehle), who isn’t always a positive influence, also lives with her, things are getting increasingly desperate as horses are selling for almost nothing and she’s running out of money. The arrival of Roy (Scoot McNairy), a Texas rancher with big ideas about what they can do together, offers a possible way out of Tabatha’s financial hole that may come at the expense of the independence she’s always fought for so fiercely.
At a Sundance screening, Beecroft described ending up in South Dakota and meeting Tabatha, at which point she realized she had to tell her story. Ehle and McNairy are professional actors joining a cast of people playing themselves, which is truly extraordinary. Their physical skills are impressive, with Porshia dangling herself from a horse while parading it around to auction, and they have a certain way of life that includes a ritual partial buzz cut hairstyle, freshly shaven before big performance moments. They are also remarkably creative and resilient, filming videos for TikTok in order to get eyes on and prospective buyers for their horses. This place really feels like rural, mostly unvisited America, reminiscent somewhat of Chloe Zhao’s The Rider but really something altogether unique, a slice of life in a specific place that most haven’t been to even if they’ve driven to Mount Rushmore or stopped at Wall’s primary tourist destination, Wall Drug.
Beecroft arrives with a true voice that she uses wonderfully to platform this family and everything that drives them. Her choice to embed herself within this family, staying with them for three years as she crafted it, has yielded marvelously positive results. This film is emotional and resonant, and having Tabatha and Porshia, as well as so many others, play themselves gives it a realness that other films couldn’t possibly match. Ehle adds some humor while McNairy brings in an influential outsider perspective representative of a different way of life that doesn’t entirely gel with his new friends. His role feels a bit like that of the audience, spectating on this world but never truly intending to be a part of it because he hasn’t grown up there and doesn’t know what it’s like to be from this place.
This film doesn’t move quickly or cover all that much ground, but it’s perfectly paced for the story it wants to tell, showcasing these people who know what they find most meaningful and are just trying to get by without having to change who they are. Whether Tabatha or Porshia have plans to act again is an open question (Beecroft’s description of how they’ve already gone back to life the way they’ve always lived it since the Sundance premiere suggests maybe not), they made a distinct mark and impression with this film, putting a version of their lives that feels very raw and authentic out there for all the world to see.
Movie Rating: 8/10