Making its debut at the 21st HollyShorts Film Festival, Hannah Rose Ammon’s WE DO OUR BEST is a sharply observed, emotionally nuanced short that navigates the fragile balance between protection and independence with striking authenticity. Set over one transformative night in New York City, the film reflects on the tender contradictions of growing-up for both sides of a mother-daughter relationship.

Inspired by a formative night from writer-director Hannah Rose Ammon’s own teenage years, WE DO OUR BEST offers a deeply human film grounded in emotional realism and lived experience. The film follows a teenage girl (Madalynn Mathews) and her single mother (Jennifer Esposito) as they bend the rules of adulthood: dressing up, sneaking into a cocktail lounge, and playing pretend in the glamorous, indifferent world of Manhattan nightlife. But beneath the surface-level mischief lies a subtle, aching exploration of the shifting dynamic between parent and child – the tension between protection and freedom, the desire to be seen as grown, and the slow realization that our parents are still growing up too.

Jennifer Esposito gives a beautifully restrained performance as the mother, allowing quiet moments – an awkward glance, a wistful smile, the barely-there hesitation before a line is crossed – to speak volumes. Her character is neither idealized nor vilified. She is complex, fallible, and deeply human – a woman trying to do her best, even when “best” is blurry and hard to name. Esposito’s scenes with Mathews are textured with lived-in affection and a subtle tug-of-war, as care curdles into control and then dissolves back into love.

Mathews, meanwhile, is a natural on screen – imbuing her role with a curious mix of vulnerability and boldness. Her performance never oversells the character’s emotional state, which makes her quiet shifts in understanding all the more powerful. A scene late in the film, where she locks eyes with an older man across the bar, is as loaded with meaning as any monologue, and is a testament to both Ammon’s direction and Mathews’ instinct as an actor.

The film’s greatest strength is its ability to capture contradiction without commentary: the thrill of playing adult while craving the safety of childhood; the mother’s pride and regret as she lets her daughter step into a world she knows too well. These layered feelings are rendered in sharp detail, helped by Ammon’s clear-eyed script and Jo Wagner’s emotionally intuitive score, which gently supports the film’s emotional currents without overwhelming the performances.

Shot with a documentary-like intimacy, the film resists artifice. There are no sweeping city shots, no overwrought dialogue, no cinematic tricks. Instead, Ammon lets the story unfold in real time, the camera holding close, but never intrusive. This stylistic modesty gives WE DO OUR BEST its quiet power, alongside its realism. It’s not a dramatized “moment” but a memory, lived and processed over years.

What perhaps is most effective about this short is its refusal to moralise. The mother doesn’t make the “right” choices. Neither does the daughter. But both try. And both, in their imperfect, complicated love for each other, are doing exactly what the title suggests: their best. The remarkable WE DO OUR BEST will be premiering at the Oscar-qualifying 2025 HollyShorts Film Festival in the Family Drama Category.

Rachel Sinclair