Indie Film Weekly [EP 37]: A Little Prayer (2025), Love, Brooklyn (2025), Atlantic City (1980)
Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly, your roundup of new indie releases for the week of August 29, 2025. I’m Glen Reynolds, here to guide you through this week’s crop of three new films hitting theaters – ranging from a heartfelt Southern family drama to a sultry Brazilian thriller – plus an indie romance on VOD and a classic crime romance celebrating its 45th anniversary.
Let’s dive in – and remember, if any of these pique your interest, please support these films by seeing them in theaters (nothing beats that big-screen experience for indie cinema!).
New in Theaters
From writer-director Angus MacLachlan (best known as the writer of Junebug), A Little Prayer is a quietly powerful drama that centers on a Southern patriarch who suspects his son is cheating on his daughter-in-law. What follows is an emotional tightrope walk through family loyalty, moral clarity, and the unexpected ways love can break or bind us. David Strathairn imbues it with the gentle gravity only he can, while Jane Levy brings compass. The supporting cast includes Anna Camp as Bill’s own daughter and Dascha Polanco as a possible other woman, adding depth to this small-town Southern ensemble. Shot in Winston-Salem—MacLachlan’s hometown—the film has an authenticity and intimacy that feel earned, not staged. It also happens to feature some of the best porches in indie cinema this year.
Next up in theaters is Love, Brooklyn, a smart and sincere story about friendship, ambition, and gentrification. It follows three lifelong friends navigating love and creative burnout in a rapidly changing borough. Director Rachael Holder weaves the threads of community, class, and nostalgia without losing sight of the individual human stories. The always-excellent Nicole Beharie, André Holland, and DeWanda Wise carry the emotional weight with warmth and humor. The film was shot in real Brooklyn locations—often guerrilla-style—which gives it the lived-in texture of the city’s indie golden era. It’s like Frances Ha, but with jobs. Fun fact: executive producer Steven Soderbergh stepped in to help finance the film when it struggled to get off the ground—proof that good stories find champions, even in the indie trenches.
Finally in theaters this week, Motel Destino is an erotic thriller pulses with heat—literal and emotional. Set on a remote coastal highway, this feverish thriller from director Karim Aïnouz takes place in a seedy roadside motel where desire, violence, and class tension collide. When a young drifter named Heraldo checks in, he disrupts the power games already in play, and things quickly spiral into the surreal and sinister. Aïnouz delivers a stylized, visually arresting film that blends neo-noir with social critique, soaked in sweat, sea spray, and sex. The film was shot in the director’s home state of Ceará and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it made waves for its daring, neon-soaked style. Think Y Tu Mamá También meets Bad Times at the El Royale, but with more mosquitoes.
So that’s A Little Prayer, Love, Brooklyn, and Motel Destino—in theaters this week!
Films to Rent or Download
On VOD this week, check out A New York Story, a sharp, beautiful social drama follows Annabel, a young woman caught between loyalty to her high-society clique and the pull of an outsider—a charming photographer who sees the real her. As her friends circle like hawks, trying to pull her back into their rarefied bubble, the story becomes a subtle takedown of modern class anxiety with echoes of Metropolitan and The Talented Mr. Ripley. The cast includes Logan Miller and veteran actress Annabella Sciorra, but it’s Fiona Robert’s show all the way – pulling triple duty as director, co-writer, and lead actress, she delivers a breakout performance. Robert fills every frame with Gilded Age elegance and downtown energy, and the film’s stunning NYC visuals make it one of the prettiest indies of the year. Keep an eye out for the acronym PLU—People Like Us—and a Whit Stillman cameo that ties it all together.
Indie Classic
Finally, our classic pick of the week is Atlantic City, which turns 45 years old (and remains as intoxicating as ever). Directed by the great Louis Malle, this 1980 crime drama/romance stars Susan Sarandon as a woman trying to reinvent herself with Burt Lancaster himself as a fading mobster desperate for one last taste of glory. The story is melancholic but hopeful, with Malle capturing the decay and romance of a city on the edge. We literally see old buildings being demolished as new casinos rise, a visual metaphor for the film’s themes of decay and renewal. You can almost smell the salt air and cheap perfume of the boardwalk. The film was nominated for five Oscars, and Lancaster’s performance—world-weary, sly, and quietly heartbreaking—still ranks among his best. Plus, Sarandon’s lemon-scrubbing scene remains one of the most iconic food moments in cinema. No notes.
You can find the film streaming on Amazon Prime and MGM+.
That wraps it for the August 29 edition of Indie Film Weekly. Whether you’re eavesdropping in the Carolinas, strolling through brownstone Brooklyn, sweltering in coastal Brazil, or navigating Upper East Side drama—there’s something indie for you this week. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Indie Igniter newsletter at theindieigniter.com. And hey—if you liked the pod, share it with someone who thinks “indie” means Wes Anderson or nothing.
Until next time: keep it soulful, keep it surprising, and keep it indie.