Written and Directed by Kate Beecroft | 97 min | ▲▲ | Netflix

A unique amalgam of documentary and drama, this picture works as a snapshot of a community — the horse people in the Badlands of South Dakota — and is shot with a lot of care to the landscape by DP Austin Shelton. The ambition on display is remarkable, but the amateur hour with the actors means that sense of authenticity trades off with stretches of boredom — this movie doesn’t have nearly enough narrative focus or conflict to keep the interest.

At the heart of the thing is the tattooed, horse trading matriarch, Tabatha (Tabatha Zimiga) and her daughter, Porshia (Porshia Zimiga). Tabatha takes care of a group of teens, and a non-verbal three-year-old. Also under her roof is her chain-smoking mother, Tracey, played by an almost unrecognizable Jennifer Ehle. Tabatha and Porshia are both still managing grief around the death of Tabatha’s husband, John, but in very different ways. Most of Porshia’s character is delivered through voiceover, which you might call a crutch if it worked, but it’s just ill advised. Into this arrives wealthy Texan Roy (Scoot McNairy), who wants to purchase their land and relieve them of their poverty. He’s got a tragic backstory, too.

The lack of narrative glue is filled by a terrific visual sense, lovely shots of animals, and an evocative score, with a few well-chosen needle drops, especially during the rodeo scenes.

But the filmmaker’s screenwriting is nowhere near the quality of the rest of her film. The mix of veteran actors and non-actors works in movies like Nomadland, American Honey and The Florida Project, but here it never comes together, despite a vivid portrait of a gorgeous landscape.