The Reel Review
The patriarch of a North Carolina family tries to protect his kind-hearted daughter-in-law after he discovers his reckless son is cheating on her with a colleague at their family business. David Strathairn and Jane Levy star in this poignant family drama about the everyday problems that affect us all.
Screenwriter Angus MacLachlan (Junebug) proves yet again that he has a knack for capturing the everyday life – and struggles – of ordinary people in his third outing as a director. The film unpacks lots of issues – combat PTSD, addiction, infidelity, and abortion – as the family’s self-absorbed daughter (an infuriatingly good Anna Camp) shows up unannounced from Virginia with her young daughter, having left her drug dealing and abusing husband yet again. Celia Weston (Dead Man Walking, Alice) is also excellent as the concerned family matriarch, Venida.
A Little Prayer tenderly and understatedly captures the pain and helplessness that parents feel in watching their adult children make major life mistakes. Strathairn is, as always, on point as the well-meaning patriarch, with Levy (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) giving a career defining performance as the sweet, gentle woman who has found a kindred spirit in her father-in-law. Prepare for that tearjerker finale to devastate you.
REEL FACTS
• A Little Prayer was a fan favorite at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, but, like many independent films, struggled to find a distributor for more than two and a half years.
• Angus MacLachlan previously directed Anna Camp in his directorial debut, 2014’s Goodbye to All That, and worked with Celia Weston in Junebug.
• A Little Prayer was filmed in Angus MacLachlan’s hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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