Understated, strikingly realistic drama exploring the emotional impact of a school shooting on those left behind. In his feature debut, writer-director Fran Kranz adroitly depicts the intense encounter between the parents of the perpetrator (Reed Birney and Ann Dowd) and those of one of his victims (Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton). Kranz’s strategy of feeding the audience information in little bits and bites pays off as viewers are made to feel like fly-on-the-wall witnesses to the naturalistic ebb and flow of conversation as well as the interior ups-and-downs evoked by the gathering. Beyond its setting on the premises of a small-town Episcopal church, the film does not explicitly place the sufferings of its principals within a religious context. Yet, simply by his choice of a title, Kranz seems to imply that God is present with the protagonists as they experience and express, on the one hand, their confusion and anguish and, on the other, their openness, empathy and willingness to forgive. Mature themes, a single crude term. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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