‘East of Wall’ (2025)
Akin to Academy Award winner Chloe Zhao’s sophomore feature “The Rider” (2017), “East of Wall” blends real life with fiction in a Big Sky neo-Western set on the rolling plains of the Badlands and Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. “East of Wall” is all about horses and horse culture and horsemanship, but – importantly – the riders in focus are all women. At the center of the film is Tabatha, played by Tabatha Zimiga, a horse whisperer IRL like her character. Similar to Brady Jandreau in “The Rider,” Tabitha’s an equestrian-centric person who can’t or shouldn’t get back in the saddle due to a riding trauma but can’t stay away. Her daughter Porshia (real-life daughter of the same name and surname) is a hard charger on the rise in local riding competitions. Through wispy documentarylike snippets we learn that Tabatha and Porshia’s ranch has become a de facto haven for girls who are not in the greatest of domestic situations – some from town and others from the reservation. Tabatha faces financial pressures, and a wealthy interloper looms, intent on buying her out (character actor Scoot McNairy, the other recognizable name beside Jennifer Ehle as Tabatha’s mom). In her first credited role, Zimiga, like Jandreau, pulls from who she is and what she knows to deliver an electric performance. Without her, Kate Beecroft’s hypnotic debut is likely just hoof dust. The power of sisterhood, social justice and fighting the patriarchy drive “East of Wall” without ever becoming overwrought. If you think the Zimigas’ performances are a parlor trick, I’ll just cite Clint Eastwood’s flat and inert “The 15:17 to Paris” (2018), which had real-life subway heroes play themselves in a sad ode to their selfless act. That said, we have not seen Jandreau back up on the silver screen since “The Rider”; thinking what’s next for Zimiga and Beecroft should still have viewers champing at the bit. (Tom Meek)
At Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge, and Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square.
‘Ne Zha II’ (2025)
If you haven’t heard of the animated epic “Ne Zha II,” it’s probably only because you’re American – sorry! Since opening in its native China in January, the film (a sequel to the eponymous 2019 hit, itself adapted from a 16th century novel based on ancient folklore) has raked in an astounding $2.2 billion worldwide, making it the fifth-highest grossing movie ever. – that’s ever, sorry, James Cameron. Almost none of that take has come from the United States, where it got only a limited release in February. Now it’s back in a new English dub (featuring, among others, the voice of Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh), giving stateside audiences a second chance to experience the phenomenon. Viewers would be advised to watch the original film first (streaming on Peacock and the Roku Channel), or at least bone up on their Chinese mythology, as the story begins in media res and hardly lets up its breakneck pace across two and a half hours. Pint-sized, hot-tempered fire demon Ne Zha and serene, disciplined ice spirit Ao Bing, having been reborn since their last adventure, must continue their quest to become ordained immortals and protect their realm from a trio of imprisoned dragons – oh my! In a twist, Ao Bing’s body fails to regenerate, forcing the two beings to share Ne Zha’s tiny form (to grant Ao Bing the reins to the shared entity, Ne Zha must periodically down sleeping pills). Then Ne Zha’s home is destroyed, and the task du hour is to find the culprit and bring them to justice. “Ne Zha II” is an overwhelming sensory experience, especially when taken in on a massive Imax screen. While steeped in Chinese imagery, the style owes much to the American animation canon of Pixar and Dreamworks, and the tonal whiplash can be disorienting. Intense scenes of death and devastation butt up against juvenile gross-out gags involving pee-drinking and fart-sniffing (both extremes may give parents pause in bringing small children). Still, there’s no denying the film’s scope and spectacle, and the visual invention of the locations and character design is often breathtaking. How American audiences will respond – now and again – remains to be seen, but it’s easy to understand why “Ne Zha II” has struck a chord internationally. (Oscar Goff)
At AMC Assembly Row 12, 395 Artisan Way, Assembly Square, Somerville.
‘Night Always Comes’ (2025)
Vanessa Kirby, the lethally angular White Widow who gave Tom Cruise fits in a few of the “Mission: Impossible” flicks, gets down and gritty in this 24-hour grind in which her Lynette must come up with $25,000 to save the house she lives in with her mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and older brother with Down syndrome (Zach Gottsagen, “The Peanut Butter Falcon”). It’s no swanky manse to be sure, on the seedy side of Portland and in need of a deep cleaning, fresh coat of paint and more. We meet up with Lynette one morning gearing up for a long day as her mom informs her coldly that she has decided to use the down payment to buy a sporty Mazda SUV on impulse. “I wanted to do something for me,” she says, “It’s done.” Selfish and out of left field, it’s a head scratcher. After mom drives off, the onus falls onto Lynette to figure out the “where will we live” plan. But how? Her day is jam-packed: a shift at a bakery, then off to college for an economics class (her brother tags along for both), followed by a gig at a bar and a quick trick in a hotel with a rich local (a snarky Randall Park) from whom she tries to elicit a loan. Postcoitus he gives her double the money and promptly ends their relationship – a needy lover is clearly a nuisance – which ticks Lynette off enough to boost his high-end Mercedes SUV. The night careens wildly off the tracks from there, going from one bad situation to the next. Lynette falls in briefly with an old roommate who’s the paid escort (Julia Fox) of a local politico who has a safe full of cash and cocaine in their covert love nest. Opportunity presents itself – forget the Benz, take the safe. To snatch the vault, Lynette elicits the help of bar co-worker Cody (Stephen James), who seems sympathetic at first but has a change of heart – and soul – later on. Things don’t go as planned, chances wane and people get hurt. After some dark reveals about Lynette’s unenvious teenage years, she winds up reluctantly at the house party of a scummy minor league crime boss (Eli Roth, notching his best onscreen turn since the Bear Jew in Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”). Directed by Benjamin Caron (“The Crown,” “Andor”) and based on the novel by Willy Vlautin, “Night Always Comes” makes it through its run time on the strength of Kirby’s all-in performance – holding the narrative together despite a litany of implausibility gaps. Etched with can-do and steely resolve, Kirby, who’s demonstrated dramatic grit credibly before in “Pieces of a Woman” (2020) and “Napoleon” (2023), makes it worth the watch. James (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) tries too. The most confounding is Leigh’s mom, an intriguing train wreck to gape at, but little of her actions or motivations make sense. (Tom Meek)
On Netflix.
‘Relay’ (2024)
Scottish writer-director David Mackenzie clearly has a thing for Americana, or at least a deep romance for iconic U.S. settings such as the open plains of the Northwest, where he set his severe “Hell or High Water” (2016), and here, with a plucky crime drama amid the neon glow and rain-slicked alleyways of New York City. The film centers on Ash (Riz Ahmed) a quiet, in-the-shadows soul whose troubled past inspires him to fix other people’s life-flipping conundrums. He’s The Equalizer without a television show or movie franchise. Mostly his clientele are low-level white-collar types who trip upon a nefarious corporate cover-up and take to snatching the damning docs. Julian Assange they are not, and what Ash does for a fee is set everyone clean and free, holding a master copy of the evidence in a safe elsewhere should someone not hold up their end of the deal. His means of client contact is a “relay,” a third-party service for the hearing-impaired in which operators type narrated text from Ash to his case du jour and back – because by law relay records must be destroyed daily and are not usable by law enforcement. Coincidentally, Ahmed, who hears fine (as does Ash), played a drummer struggling with hearing loss in “The Sound of Metal” (2019). Ash’s current case involves would-be whistleblower Sarah (Lily James), who has corporate goons tailing and harassing her (Sam Worthington of “Avatar” fame leads the well-equipped surveillance team). Ash and Sarah cross over eventually to a face-to-face and potentially romantic relationship, and the opulently shot film becomes more of an action thriller than a thinking person’s puzzle. Much around Ahmed’s enigmatic doer feel postured, but the actor is deep into his tortured character and holds the film secure as it loses its mooring and drifts from its premise. (Tom Meek)
At Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge.
Oscar Goff is a writer and film critic based in Somerville. He is film editor and senior critic for the Boston Hassle and his work has appeared in the monthly Boston Compass newspaper and publications such as WBUR’s The ARTery and iHeartNoise. He is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, and the Online Film Critics Society.
Cambridge writer Tom Meek’s reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in WBUR’s The ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.