How does it feel to be seen when you’ve spent your entire life feeling invisible? That question is posed and answered in the moving family drama A Little Prayer.
The very definition of a slow burn, writer/director Angus MacLachlan (Abundant Acreage Available, Goodbye to All That) takes his time and slowly introduces the dysfunctional family at the center of the story. David Strathairn and Celia Weston play the family patriarch and matriarch, a couple who’ve been married for decades and who’ve come to accept what can’t be changed in their relationship. Bill and Venida should be at the empty-nester stage heading into pre-retirement, yet their brood has failed to fly.
David (Will Pullen) works for his dad’s company and lives behind his childhood home with his wife, Tammy (Jane Levy). Bill becomes aware of his son’s lack of respect for his marriage and ultimately catches on to the looks exchanged between David and Narcedalia (Dascha Polanco) at work. But David’s troubles don’t end with infidelity; he’s an alcoholic who refuses to seek help.
David has a troubled past that MacLachlan teases but doesn’t reveal until it’s necessary to understand in order to grasp the underlying issues at work ripping apart David and Tammy’s marriage.
Daughter Patti (Anna Camp) is the designated problem child, alternately suffering through an unhappy marriage and fleeing to her parents’ house when she feels the need to be waited on. Where she goes, so does her young, strangely silent daughter.
Patti doesn’t have a legitimate reason for sucking the energy from a room, other than that she’s a narcissist. A taker with no concern for how her words or actions impact others, Patti couldn’t care less if her presence imposes on her parents. Headphones on, she scans the yard with her metal detector rather than help with chores or assisting with cooking meals.
Of the trio of young adults who take up residence at Bill and Venida’s cozy home, it’s daughter-in-law Tammy who’s the blossoming rose, in direct contrast to David and Patti’s thorny personalities. Tammy’s an old soul who connects with her father-in-law on a level that neither of his children can comprehend – not that they’ve ever tried.
It’s the relationship between Bill and Tammy that makes A Little Prayer so compelling. Bill’s leery of taking sides, but it’s obvious that although she’s not his flesh and blood, Tammy is as important to him as either David or Patti.
What keeps the melodrama at bay is writer/director MacLachlan infusing Tammy, easily the most sympathetic figure in the film, with flaws that make her incredibly relatable. Patti labels her Miss Perfect, but that’s because Tammy’s become an expert at hiding her pain.
A Little Prayer requires a little patience as it lays out an honest, emotional story of a family struggling to understand each other. The entire ensemble is outstanding, but it’s the powerful performances by David Strathairn and Jane Levy that truly drive the narrative.
There’s nothing flashy about the production; there isn’t any distracting noise that shifts the focus off of the development of the family’s relationships. Writer/director MacLachlan’s A Little Prayer sneaks up on you if you just settle in and let it.
GRADE: B+
A Little Prayer screened as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film after its world premiere at the festival.
