East of Wall

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

A simple slice of life tale about a women trying her best to go through the troubles in life is emotional journey. And director Kate Beecroft does a fantastic job on presenting a low-budget feature with strong nature performances from the cast, realistic characters and engaging writing.

Presented through a docudrama presentation, this slice of life narrative carries many good themes about family, the struggles, being a cowboy/cowgirl kind, and trying the best to navigate despite the harsh realities. Filmed with beautiful camerawork and nature dialogue, you begin to feel the connection and emotions the characters are going through. Whether they aren't perfect, the characters are interesting as they never came off as unlikable or boring.

All of the performances are good, the score is good, and there are some sequences that does hit right in the heart successfully. Reminds me a lot of Chloé Zhao which her works focus on the American natural landscapes.

Overall, I really liked this movie and I love to see this director make another movie someday.