A young girl with a disabled mother uses humor to overcome prejudice at the store.


REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CART is used with permission from Rikki Stinnette. Learn more at   / restinnette  .


Ainsley and her mother Rebecca are a close pair, with a loving and affectionate bond. They're especially close because though she looks young, Rebecca has rheumatoid arthritis, which severely limits the use of her hands. Ainsley has to help her mom with many daily tasks, like buttoning up her shirt, and Rebecca can't do a lot of things for or with Ainsley.

Sometimes Ainsley struggles with feeling different, but she tries to keep her feelings hidden from her mother. And together both try to live as normal of a life as possible. But when Rebecca and Ainsley face some prejudice and lack of understanding at the grocery store from someone who can't believe Rebecca has a physical disability, the pair learn to accept and stand up for themselves together.

Written and directed by Rikki Stinnette, this thoughtful, sensitive short family drama builds a clear, compassionate portrait of a mother and daughter, with an eye on the impact of disability on their relationship with each other and the outside world. This can be a heavy topic, but the storytelling possesses a winsome simplicity in its balancing of both the mother's and daughter's experiences. As a result, the film takes on the temperament of both Rebecca's grounded warmth and Ainsley's caring innocence, captured with equally warm, unpretentious visuals that forego flashiness in favor of a sturdy clarity.

The writing doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties that Ainsley feels in having a mother who can't do all the things she wishes she could do with her parent, like playing on a playground or catching a ball together. And it also acknowledges that Ainsley has moments where she just wishes she could be a carefree kid and perhaps not have to be so helpful all the time. But it also celebrates the unique joys and gifts of their situation, and the pair have a clear, healthy respect for one another and an open channel of communication that is a pleasure to watch.

Actor Amanda Shafer plays Rebecca as, first and foremost, a loving mother with a grounded confidence in the role and a matter-of-fact approach to her rheumatoid arthritis. As Ainsley, young performer Ashley Galletta has a beautiful ability to play a young child who loves to be helpful, especially for the mother she adores, but also longs to be a normal kid sometimes. After hiding those longings and being more responsible than typical for a child her age, Ainsley has a burst of frustration, feeling upset that they never do anything fun together.

But when the pair face questioning at a store for using the electric carts meant for people with disabilities -- with the questioner not realizing that severe arthritis can strike even the seemingly young and healthy -- both Ainsley and Rebecca learn to have a little fun together in the face of society's lack of disability awareness. Based on the writer-director's own experiences, REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CART gets its name from this shared moment of understanding, and it gets its authenticity from its measured, honest portrayal of how disability affects a family ecosystem. But it gets its charm and sweetness from its insight that families are connected not just by care and affection, but the spirit of playfulness that make for wonderful memories and celebrations of everyday joy.