A Little Prayer

Grade: A

A Little Prayer opens with the camera traveling through a cute, quaint suburban neighborhood full of character, history, and stories, as an unknown, unseen woman sings gospel songs early in the morning. She does this most days, in the 7:00 hour. Some members of the family we meet in A Little Prayer are interested and intrigued. Sometimes they go out on walks when they hear her voice, hoping to finally find what has long been a white whale for them.

Angus MacLachlan made his feature film debut 20 years ago, as a writer, with Junebug. He wears the director hat as well with A Little Prayer, which is a quiet thoughtful family drama. It’s sweet, profound, sometimes heartbreaking, and at an hour and a half, it’s as efficient as it is absorbing. There is very little score. It’s not needed. Sometimes the wind is the loudest thing in a scene.

The great character actor David Strathairn is in leading role territory, which doesn’t seem to happen often enough. He is Bill, who founded a sheet metal factory and ran it for decades. He still works there, but no longer as the owner. He’s passed that torch to his son David (Will Pullen), who lives in the guest house on his parents’ property with his wife Tammy (the adorable Jane Levy, who is also opening The Toxic Avenger this weekend). In a movie with many relationships, the sweetest and strongest one is between the father and daughter-in-law: Bill and Tammy. Often the first ones up in the mornings, they find one another in the kitchen more than anyone else, and they share many meaningful chats and banter.

Bill and his wife Venida (Celia Weston, recently in You’re Cordially Invited) have their nest filled back up as their daughter Patti (Anna Camp from Bride Hard) shows up unannounced with her young daughter Hadley (Billie Roy from Origin). She is leaving her abusive, addict husband – again. Meanwhile, Bill is noticing that David has been mysteriously absent from home – working many late nights, according to him. At the work happy hours at the VFW, David has been acting awfully familiar with Narcedalia (Dascha Polanco), a co-worker at the factory.

He’s disappointed in his son, and doesn’t know how, or if, he should break the news to Tammy. When I rewatch American Beauty every October, it unfolds itself more every time, as I continue to pick up on new things. What struck me on one of the most recent viewings is how everyone has so much going on with themselves at any given time, and nobody else in the family is privy to it. When Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, and Thora Birch convene at the dinner table every evening, it’s amazing to think about what each has been through, individually.

That is the essence of A Little Prayer. I can imagine a lesser movie that was just about the David/Tammy/Narcedalia love triangle, and Bill knowing about it. I can picture a lot of yelling and slammed doors. The movie has more expansive plans. Plots weave in and out of each other. Nobody is a villain, and nobody is a perfect blameless innocent saint. Even Narcedalia gets some light shed on her in the third act. This is my favorite family drama film since 1991’s Once Around.

The last scene with dialogue is a mesmerizing, beautiful master class in listening and reacting to your scene partner. Every little micro-expression conveys so much unspoken understanding. There’s an unmistakable sense that they each know more than what they’re saying, and know that the other person knows more than what is being said. MacLachlan is smart enough to know that the characters and situations he’s created can’t have all their storylines tied up and resolved in 91 minutes. Hours after seeing A Little Prayer, I was still thinking about these people – these new friends. I wondered how they were doing, if they were finding what they were seeking, and if they ever solved the mystery of who that singing neighbor was.

Grade: A