By Matthew Moorcroft

Solid Recommendation

• Directed by Angus MacLachlan
• Starring David Strathairn, Jane Levy, Celia Watson, Anna Camp
• R

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.

How far do you go to protect family? This is the question that A Little Prayer is asking, the latest from Junebug writer-turned-director Angus MacLachlan, who has mostly stuck to the sidelines with smaller films despite his first script getting Amy Adams her first major Oscar nomination. A Little Prayer, for all it’s worth, seems to be designed from the getgo to attempt to get Oscar nominations, with David Strathairn and Jane Levy as the main targets this time around.

For Levy, this would be a major win for a career that has been blossoming since she burst into the scene in the 2013 reboot of Evil Dead. While she has mostly stuck to genre fare and TV shows (including the great Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist), it would showcase what many, including myself, have been saying about her for a while – which is that she is a talent that will blow up in popularity one day. For Strathairn, this would be a chance at redemption; a veteran actor, previously nominated, and beloved in the industry. He has the narrative of “being overdue” despite a long, storied track record.

I bring this up cause for all of the small faults in A Little Prayer, which eventually add up by the film’s end, Strathairn and Levy are not among them. Both of them are giving some of their all time best work here (particularly Levy who has a one shot close up that’s magnificent), and the film’s final scene is a quiet powerhouse of acting from both of them. MacLachlan wisely keeps the camera lingering on them for a while here, letting the emotions sink in and the tears well up for both the actors and the audience. Cartharsis through imagery.

It just takes a little bit to get there. I’ve neglected to mention the actual story at the heart of this thing – which, as I’ve mentioned, has to do with protecting your family – cause it’s mostly on the backburner on purpose. The idea of a father trying to protect both his son’s reputation and his wife from the truth cause of infidelity makes for a compelling narrative, even if it’s difficult to swallow Strathairn’s intentions as good. Thankfully he’s so good in the performance that you buy it, and because of that you yourself almost walk away from it questioning if it was the right thing to do.

There is more going on here then just that, though. From their daughter making a sudden appearance to protect herself from an abusive boyfriend to a wife who is torn from her husband’s actions, this is a familial drama across all walks. It’s almost overwhelming as it tries to balance as much as it can by the end, and it almost does as that final scene is, as mentioned earlier, just really that good. Frankly it should be a testament to the importance of ending strongly; stories sometimes really only are as good as their finales.

If anything, I choose to read the film as an exploration of what happens when you begin to see your children as adults rather then your kids. They make bad decisions and there really isn’t anything you can do about it, they are flawed human beings with fears, bad traits, and in some cases are just not great people in general, and you gotta live with that. Does that make you a bad parent? Not necessarily, but it’s something you must accept. A Little Prayer‘s best moments are when it doubles down on these elements, and they are sprinkled throughout, reminding you of the complexities of everyday life.

I think A Little Prayer is a little too conventional in some ways to be fully remembered come awards season – especially in a year like this one – but as a little slice of Sundance goodness, it’s the kind of cozy, heartfelt affair that does wonders in the early fests. Definitely worth checking out once it makes the rounds in theaters.