Mother’s Little Helpers

MOTHER’S LITTLE HELPERS

Mother’s Little Helpers is a dark-comedy Indie film. The film begins when the four estranged children

• Sadie Pride (Kestrin Pantera, who wrote and directed the film),
• Julia Pride (Breeda Wool, the oldest),
• Jude Pride (Sam Littlefield under house arrest), and
• Lucy Pride (Milana Vayntrub, the youngest)

reluctantly return home to care for their dying mother, Joy Pride (Melanie Hutsell).  The movie siblings and mother also have co-writing credits.

Jude, Sadie, Lucy & Julia

Mother’s Little Helpers is a very well written story with excellent characters that are genuine.  The kids act appropriately estranged when dealing with death and while discovering underlying coverups in the family’s history.  All the characters, except the youngest Lucy Pride, are well developed through the use of flashbacks.  Flashbacks also show the lack of parenting skills of the dying mother.

Sometimes there is too much character development.  As is the case of the gay son, with a weird, scary smile, Jude who is under house arrest. His rendezvous and talking to the parole officer has nothing to do with the mother. He takes up too much time.  Whereas, the two oldest daughters’ backstory is appropriate. Their lives and problems are directly related to the family and the mother.  All you learn about the youngest daughter Lucy is that she is a new doctor, but she’s Lilly from the AT&T commercials.  Lucy acts like AT&T Lilly, so she is immediately familiar.

The comedy is rare, but it is funny.  There are entertaining talks and reactions to “fish-breath” (aka “prolonged inspiratory hold” of the dying mother). Also bashing the clogs worn by the oldest sister.

Sadie & Mom

Other characters include Nurse Cool (Cool Benson), who helps the kids get through it all.  Nurse Cool is very calm and composed. He reminds us all again how essential and caring nurses are in the world.

Auntie Trashcan (Tara Karsian) had a great name but wasn’t the best character.  However, Auntie Trashcan is the key to the kids understanding their history and moving on.  However, the actor did not rise to the occasion, and the acting was dull.

It took some time to like her, but you eventually grow to like the oldest daughter Julia.  Julia changes the most during the film and gives the best performance.  She has the best reaction to unexpected fish breath.

Mother’s Little Helpers is a sweet little dark-comedy film, even if it is about death.  The ending is non-ambiguous and satisfying in a strange way.

Movie Details

Director

Kestrin Pantera

Writer

Kestrin Pantera

Actors

Milana Vayntrub, David Giuntoli, Breeda Wool, Rick Overton, Kestrin Pantera

Runtime

1 h 39 min

Release Date

9 March 2019

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Family

Overview

When Joy Pride, a groovy 70s burn-out on the caboose of the flower power movement learns she has weeks to live, her estranged children come together to do right by a mother who always did them wrong. It's based on the premise that no matter who dies, we always find a way to make it all about us.