Writer-director Angus MacLachlan strips things down to their essence in his low-key Southern-fried drama, A Little Prayer. Gone are the histrionics, the embellishments, the trumpeting of themes. There are no intricate camera movements or shot compositions. Even the title credits look like they were made on someone’s laptop in 1997. MacLachlan dispenses with all the flourishes and focuses purely on the story and the characters, the gentle humor and the heartrending moments. It all leads up to a wonderful final scene, a knockout punch that cements MacLachlan as one of cinema’s indie greats.
Bill (David Strathairn) and his wife Venida (Celia Weston) lead a peaceful life in their little North Carolina home. He runs a metal manufacturing business with his son, David (Will Pullen). Things get shaken up when Bill finds out that David may be cheating on his better half, Bill’s beloved “kindred spirit” daughter-in-law, Tammy (Jane Levy) with Bill’s assistant, Narcedalia (Dascha Polanco), no less. To complicate things further, Bill’s daughter, Patti (Anna Camp), comes running from a bad marriage.
The plot may seem somewhat convoluted, but it unravels with the ease of a knitting ball. It’s all about the little moments, ones charged with feeling despite the calm surface waters. Bill’s revelatory moment with Narcedalia; Patti’s goodbye; Bill with Tammy at an art gallery; all the instances between Bill and Venida. “You used to say I was an ugly baby,” Patti says. “Well, you grew out of it,” Venida deadpans. “Was I a bad father?” Bill asks his wife in a moment of midnight fragility. “You did what you had to, I guess,” she murmurs, before going back to sleep.
Will Pullen and Jane Levy in A Little Prayer. Courtesy of Music Box Films.
“Things get shaken up when Bill finds out that David may be cheating on his better half…”
Nothing’s black-and-white as MacLachlan shades everything in a spectrum of colors. A Little Prayer brims with affection for its characters, but there’s also a palpable belief in the healing power of love. Bill tries to fix things, his kind and loving eyes conveying empathy, and one can feel the compassion, and can’t help but wonder why we as a collective humanity just can’t take a step back and relate to one another.
David Strathairn gives a darling of a performance, as lived-in and gracious as an acting feat can get. I can’t think of another actor who could have handled that final scene with as much subtlety and perfect intonation — but then, Jane Levy is right up there with him, emotionally raw and subdued all at once. The rest of the cast is predictably formidable, especially Celia Weston’s sardonic Venida and Camp’s cynical, foul-mouthed Patti.
“Sometimes I just gotta have cocoa, no matter the season, I don’t know why,” a character states at one point. MacLachlan’s film is like cocoa — scalding, sweet, warming to the soul. Sometimes, you just need a big old mug of it, without quite knowing why. With humanity losing a grip on its, well, humanity, and the weather getting frosty, what better time for a A Little Prayer?
"…Strathairn gives a darling of a performance..."
