You cannot choose your biological children, but you can choose which family you marry into. “A Little Prayer” (2023) is about the Brass family whose best member is Tammy (Jane Levy, star of “Don’t Breathe”), who is married to son, David (Will Pullen), best buddies with her father-in-law, Bill (David Strathairn), a perfect helper to her mother-in-law, Venida (Celia Weston), a sister to her sister-in-law Patti (Anna Camp), and adoring aunt to Patti’s daughter, Hadley (Billie Roy). When Bill suspects that David may be doing something that will drive Tammy away, David tries to figure out how to intervene.

I have not kept up with writer and director Angus MacLachlan despite being a huge fan of his screenwriter debut feature, “Junebug” (2005). I have zero memory of his second feature writing credit, “Stone” (2010). In “A Little Prayer,” which he wrote and directed, he establishes the rhythm of a family. MacLachlan alternates between showing different characters alone or in different combinations, but does not depict only one perspective, which has the effect of being a fly on the wall at a huge turning point in this family. The camera sticks to the streets, backyards, kitchen, living room, bedrooms, the local VFW on Wednesday nights, the family business, B&B Sheet Metal. That fly is rarely there for the big conclusive moments that would eliminate doubt as to what exactly is going on behind some closed doors.

MacLachlan shows most of them in moments of solitude where they do not have to put on a pleasing face for the family but favors David and Tammy. Most of the characters make a casual observation without necessarily realizing the weight of the implication, but Bill wordlessly witnesses an exchange between David and one of the front-facing employees, Narcedalia (Dascha Polanco), and notices something is up. Considering that the entire workplace drinks and dances at the local VFW, it would be easier to dismiss this interaction as something else, but David does not put his head in the sand and sets out on a journey to put his family on the right path, which he discovers is impossible.

The entire cast feels organic. Strathairn is an unsurprising standout as a man dismayed at the realization that his kids ain’t shit (which is a too harsh first impression which changes upon deeper reflection) and wonders how they got here. Weston provides a counterbalance as a mother and wife resigned to the situation and has accepted whatever is unfolding around her but puts a digit on the scale in favor of not making negative guesses about her son. My favorite emblematic scene is when she enters her daughter’s room, sees the mess, starts to clean, immediately repents and puts everything back where it was. Pullen’s performance is more nuanced and is easy to take for granted, but his physical performance is sophisticated: the consistent way that he invades people’s personal space, including his father, the turn on a dime mood change, the pleasantries that veil criticism, his confidence of being able to charm then use of his voice to stop any accountability. Levy plays Tammy like a well-intentioned angel, but occasionally a mournful visage creeps over her face as she comes back down to earth and contemplates reality. She tries so hard to fit in and is soaking in every good aspect of her life. Camp is a genius at playing recognizable characters who feel ripped from real-life.

You get what you see with Patti, a hurricane who unlike everyone in the family, never plays anything close to the vest. While she is a complete disaster, the family could embrace a little of their inner Patti. If you are a moviegoer unfamiliar with these kinds of superficial veneer family dynamics, “A Little Prayer” could be frustrating. While it is refreshing that MacLachlan shies away from melodrama and the well-trod paths of family dramas, this stubborn approach tells little but ultimately refuses to show anything that would raise the pulse and keeps anything damning offscreen. In 2001, while praising “In the Bedroom,” there was an equal amount of gentle joshing that the height of drama was watching Sissy Spacek break a single plate. The equivalent here is a camera orbiting Tammy during a medical visit until she cries decorously then it cuts to the “Woman in Scrubs” (Keisha Tillis) as she silently looks on and prior to that moment was only audibly being encouraging, but otherwise unseen. It is a powerful moment considering the context, but in a vacuum, feels artificially restrained though it could be realistic.

Thank God that MacLachlan offers enough pressure relief valve characters like Bethany (Ashley Shelton), Narcedalia’s roommate, who is a spill the beans kind of person whether drunk or sober. She gets everything out in the open, and while on paper, Narcedalia does not come off well, the fact that she does not get angry at her friend or lie when it would favor her offers proof of a course correction. Respectability politics pearls firmly on, the casting is interesting, especially considering the location. Narcedalia appears to be a woman of color and is also presumably the other woman in a region where that kind of dynamic, regardless of intention, carries a historical weight of the Jezebel stereotype, which may explain why MacLachlan works overtime to rehabilitate the character at the eleventh hour.

It is consistent with his approach. Polanco acts as if Tammy’s entrance at the office is a jump scare as if she did not know that she existed. Tammy loves children more than the average person before the action pendulum swings the other way. Bill is shown as the salt of the earth, but there is a brilliant scene which feels like the ultimate payoff which shows where David may have been exposed to behavior that he now deems appropriate. People can change for the better, but they can slip. People can be great but make huge mistakes. There are no firm answers, but the fact that Venida does not blink at the sudden change in Bill’s routine indicates that she is used to it. Around this scene, the titular plea to God occurs.

“A Little Prayer” is filled with people who do not go to church, but there are two spiritual backdrops to the Brass family life. The movie opens with an offscreen person singing, which people hear but cannot find the source. Venida gives tours that touch on the practices of the Moravian Church, a Protestant sect. They were pacifist teetotalers who shunned adulterers, did not dance, regularly attended church, abhorred lying and held that children take care of their parents when they get older, which is an inadequate summary of their beliefs. This family is living opposite those teachings. They also have an idea of fellowship, the gathering of kindred hearts and the ideal of joyful service, which Tammy and Bill embody.

“A Little Prayer” is going to speak to people who come from cultures that are not expressive in the way that they communicate yet have a wellspring of emotion. If you loved “Junebug,” do not expect lightning to strike twice since it is more muted in comparison. For everyone else, the deliberate pacing and omissions may be challenging, but also decent training ground for watching independent films.