No, this is not a movie about post-World War II East Germany as the title may suggest, but you will be wishing it was about five minutes into it. With a narrative as bleak as the surroundings, “East of Wall” will make you want to avoid rural South Dakota at all costs. Having a cast almost entirely comprised of non-actors playing themselves, while commendable, is another glaring weakness of this independent docu-fiction film.
At an impoverished horse ranch in the Badlands of South Dakota, horse trainer extraordinaire Tabatha Zimiga (Tabatha Zimiga) struggles to make ends meet while also providing housing and care for a bunch of wayward teenagers. Since her husband died the year prior, the weight of the world has fallen on her shoulders and she’s been getting meager returns from selling her horses at auction despite their high quality. When a wealthy Texan rancher discovers the potential of Tabatha’s ranch, he makes an offer that could provide a financial windfall for the tattooed widow, but the cost may be more than she’s willing to pay. Her daughter, Porshia Zimiga (Porshia Zimiga), also grieving over the loss of her father, is another focal point whose outlet is winning horse riding competitions.
This is the writing/directorial debut for Kate Beecroft, and her inexperience couldn’t be more pronounced. The storyline itself is bland, convoluted, and confused over whose story it wants to tell, alternating between the mother and daughter characters in a disjointed manner that fails to create interest in either. Using a backdrop of depressing imagery, rather than capitalizing on the serene beauty of South Dakota, is a poor decision by Kate as it further darkens the mood of an already overly dark story. This lack of balance that shows up early and often makes viewers immediately want to tune out and vacate the theater.
Beecroft was intent on pounding home the down-on-their-luck plot to evoke an emotional response from the audience, but her approach is so oppressive and imbalanced with no allowance to connect with these people. At one point the film almost turns into an AA meeting with each character taking turns sharing their sob story and breaking down in melodramatic tears. Like a thick, wet blanket where viewers are not provided with any lifeline of entertainment value to crawl out from underneath, Beecroft’s narrative is torturously boring.
Then there’s her filmmaking style which is head scratching to put it politely. She maintains an agonizingly slow pace throughout the hour and a half long movie, making it feel like a three-hour epic about a library’s Dewey Decimal System. Beecroft demonstrates a frustrating tendency to linger too long on scenes that do not further any of the storylines she’s trying to portray. There’s even a scene that depicts these young teenagers frolicking in the water in which she uses slow motion like it was a “Baywatch” scene. This is not only off-putting and pointless but would make the likes of P. Diddy uncomfortable.
Scoot McNairy and Jennifer Ehle are the only professional actors not playing themselves. While they’re fine enough actors, they’re not able to rescue this movie from the dumpster fire it finds itself in. Sometimes, using non-actors in a film can work to add authenticity, especially in a true story, like 1997’s “Kundun,” but in this instance, it fails miserably. When these people try to reenact their own melodrama, it comes across as forced and devoid of natural emotion. The only authentic element of their performances was when they were riding horses and not speaking.
This is not only like watching paint dry, it’s like watching the painter paint a wall only to discover that the wrong shade of brown was used, and now you have watch him repaint that same wall all over again. “East of Wall” hits a brick wall, and all that is left is an indistinguishable mess of parts that never seem to have belonged together in the first place. This is a production that identifies itself as horrible within the first several minutes and only gets worse, so save your time and money.
This movie earns:
