‘East of Wall’ Review: Three Generations of South Dakota Women Put a New Face on the Western
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic So much of the American cowboy mythos — the way they talk, the silhouette they cut, the clothes they wear — has been codified, if not invented wholesale, by Hollywood.
From first shot to last, Kate Beecroft’s “East of Wall” expands our perception of those iconic horse wranglers to consider the women so often overlooked.
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 daughter, Porshia, a TikTok star and rodeo queen — to participate in a drama extrapolated from their own lives, all but rewriting the genre with the result.
Beecroft derives unquantifiably rich scenic value from the stunning South Dakota backdrops, whether handheld shots of magic-hour vistas or weightless drone shots through the vast, corrugated folds of the Badlands.
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