Two years after a Sundance premiere and an initial Sony Pictures Classics attachment, A Little Prayer experienced a delayed release and ultimately shifted to Music Box Films. The Virginia-set drama follows Bill, his wife Verdina, their son David, daughter Patti, and daughter-in-law Tammy as they navigate abuse, alcoholism, separation, and an emotional decision about abortion. The film balances large emotional stakes with small communal moments like gospel singing and VFW dancing. The narrative presents characters with complexity and contradiction and emphasizes acceptance over condemnation, anchored by a restrained, empathetic performance from David Strathairn.
Two years ago, when Angus MacLachlan's "A Little Prayer" premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023, it did so with a wave of critical adulation behind it. The Virginia-set film about Bill ( David Strathairn), a flailing patriarch whose only balm in the face of his flawed children is his kindhearted daughter-in-law Tammy ( Jane Levy), was immediately attached to Sony Pictures Classic.
When Patti, the daughter of Bill and Verdina (a quietly affecting Celia Weston), appears at her parents' doorstep with her child, she seems to be separating from her abusive husband. With nary any backstory, we immediately know this isn't the first time Patti has shown up unannounced. Bill's son David (Will Pullen), an alcoholic war veteran who works at Bill's sheet metal company, has been arriving home late to Tammy with the worn out excuse of being at the office.
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