'East of Wall' Review: A Rugged, Authentic Tale of the "New West"

With a patient grace that buoys its more emotionally devastating moments, director Kate Beercroft’s East of Wall is a quietly immersive piece of docu-fiction that brims with vibrant authenticity. The film focuses on Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga — both bravely playing themselves, and both unafraid to lace their on-screen strength with open-hearted vulnerability — a mother-daughter duo who own a ranch on the wind-touched plains of South Dakota, where they make a living trading and selling horses. Their voices and bodies fill nearly every minute of East of Wall, which may raise concerns that this is a voyeuristic and impersonal project that falls into a trap that snares even the most well-meaning documentaries: Namely, that it's more “about” a subject than coming “from” the subject.