May the nearly perfect drama ‘A Little Prayer’ find its audience

Bill (David Strathairn) shares a special bond with his daughter-in-law Tammy (Jane Levy) in “A Little Prayer.” Courtesy of Music Box Films

“A Little Prayer” — 4 stars

Angus MacLachlan’s “A Little Prayer” made its first appearance at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, and those of us who cherished it there were worried it might never see the light of day again. A small-scale, nearly perfect drama of small-town American lives, the film draws you in the way a well-written novel does, and the character at its center is a flawed, decent, troubled man — an ordinary hero rather than the super kind. It’s an exemplar of the good little movie that doesn’t sell, and for two years it was stuck in distribution limbo. Yet here it is at last, and all I can say is: Go.

If you need further enticement,