Miss Patti

As Patti and Jaime walk up to Lauren and Lily’s house with all their supplies, the girls leave to allow them to clean the house. Once they’re gone, neither could begin to imagine what Patti actually gets up to inside their home. With Miss Patti, directors Kate Hamilton and Grasie Mercedes play with the familiar stereotypes, and power dynamics, between employer and employee with humor and wit. While the film has an undeniable charming comedic tone, it also has elements of satire that are rooted in reality.

Written by Hamilton, the filmmaker reveals that the inspiration behind the screenplay “arose as I observed myself and my white friends interacting with the Latino people who cleaned our apartments”. There’s something deeply intimate in having someone come into your home and clean. This access to your life inherently gives cleaners a lot of insight into who you are, while employers typically know very little about those they hire, often filling that gap with assumptions or projections. Hamilton explained that her goal was to “call out some of the contradictions in the dynamic, while exploring a fun premise that would subvert it”.

Lauren and Lily come across as clichés from the start – two white Angelenos whose lives seem carefully curated by social media trends and who would qualify themselves as woke. For them, Patti is simply “the cleaning lady”, and they never bother to look beyond that label. This makes the twist – that Patti is actually an influencer who uses her workplace for material – all the more delightful. It completely turns the power dynamic on its head, giving Patti full agency and allowing her to use those typical stereotypes to her own advantage. 

“We shot the streaming footage of Patti practically; on an iPhone on a selfie-stick.” – director, Kate Hamilton

Hamilton and Mercedes includes screenlife elements in the visual aesthetic of Miss Patti, alongside DP Matthew Law’s photography, as social media is an integral part of the narrative. At first, it’s used as an effective and quick exposition to get to know “La Lauren” and “La Lily” – not just characters in the narrative, but stars in Patti’s chisme-fueled content. Then, as the film progresses, these social media sequences are used to highlight the difference between Patti’s online persona, her real-life identity and the version of her she projects to her employers. 

Ultimately, the premise of Miss Patti is actually quite simple, but it’s the nuanced execution that makes it both entertaining and compelling. Kristina Cole as Lily and Hamilton, herself, as Lauren perfectly nail their characters, allowing the audience to instantly root for Patti. Blanca Araceli as Patti simply shines, conveying all the humor of her character, the situation and her social media persona – it actually made me want to follow her. Adam Leiva rounds out the cast as Jaime, grounding Patti back in reality with a dash of cynicism that complements the overall narrative. 

If you like the short, you’ll be happy to hear that Patti is getting the feature she deserves. With Hamilton revealing that she is in early development of the project, which will include both Jaime and Patti and will feature “more laughs” and “a dash of murder mystery”. Hamilton also has a new short film on the festival circuit, How Did I Get Here. As for Mercedes, she’s working on a pilot loosely based on her life, Gracie The Gringa, and another feature, titled Sergio’s Daughters, about three half-sisters who met for the first time at their father’s funeral.