‘A Prayer Before Dawn’ is a Different Kind of A24 Film

At a holiday party I attended last year, a friend of mine described a film as “too A24.” What this reveals, beyond that I live inside a badly written Noah Baumbach film, is that the upstart indie distributor already has a distinct brand identity. Its big releases have a reputation for being quirky, aesthetically challenging takes on familiar genres made by rising star filmmakers.

But A24 is doing more than just pumping out hits like Lady Bird and Hereditary into market. Like any smart player who hopes to stay alive in the business, the company maintains a diversified slate of releases with varying viability for theatrical and streaming play. For over five years, A24 has maintained a partnership with DirecTV that gives the satellite company’s streaming service a 30-day pre-theatrical release on select titles from the studio.

The films released through this partnership are hardly the A24 junior varsity team, however. Morris from America and The Monster are both triumphs (and, hint, ripe for discovery on Amazon Prime). And a title like Hot Summer Nights could likely make enough streaming revenue by plastering Timothée Chalamet’s face on the cover to help sustain a theatrical rollout for the company’s recently acquired Claire Denis space film High Life. Further, some of these DirecTV partnership titles are fine movies that might not sound like the most appealing night out at the theater. Such films like Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s A Prayer Before Dawn, recently added to Amazon Prime’s streaming library, make for a far more palatable watch from the comfort of one’s own home – because the film itself offers absolutely nothing in the way of comfort.

The film is based on a true story, as it reminds us with end title cards that inform us of the fate of protagonist Billy Moore. Had the factual postscript not popped up, I might have easily mistaken A Prayer Before Dawn as a creation of pure cinema. Little in Jonathan Hirschbein’s script recalls familiar patterns in biopics, especially ones that involve either time served in prison or participation in boxing like Moore’s story does. From the opening shot of Moore’s shoulder blades, Sauvaire announces his film’s interest in something different. As committed as actor Joe Cole is to bringing Moore to life, he exists mostly as a physical specimen, a body meant to endure and withstand unimaginable pain.

There’s no glorifying of the incarcerated hardbody in A Prayer Before Dawn. Instead, once British expat Moore’s bad drug habit lands him in a Thailand slammer, the body becomes a locus for abuse and punishment. Moore’s, pale and unmarked with tattoos, stands out as innocent from the first prison lineup. He and other perceived weaklings are targeted by the heavily inked strongmen of the facility as a means of reinforcing their hierarchy.

In case anyone is still making those ill-advised “don’t drop the soap” jokes, an extended scene that unflinchingly observes a shower gang rape will put the horrific practice in a stark new light. Though the pain and trauma of their target is clear, Sauvaire rarely shows the faces of either the perpetrator or the victim. This is not about feelings. This about the pure, raw flexing of power through one of the few instruments left to these imprisoned men: their bodies.

As a means of self-defense, but also for a bit of sanity, Moore begins to hone his body back into fighting shape for Muay Thai boxing to earn his freedom. Don’t expect a triumphalist Rocky-style narrative or anything from A Prayer Before Dawn – or, heck, not even Raging Bull-like filmmaking that lends any sense of grace or dignity to the boxing ring. For Sauvaire, this fighting is a nasty, destructive clash of bodies that resembles a street brawl more than it does an athletic competition. Again, he films these fights as a mere tangle of limbs, largely divorced from emotional stakes.

Sauvaire’s film is not particularly enjoyable, nor is it an easy sit. But for all those who know prison or boxing films well enough to spot the genre clichés from a mile away, A Prayer Before Dawn makes for a worthwhile watch – especially at home where you can pause at will and react privately. A24 and DirecTV smartly realized that collective viewing might not make the optimal experience, immersive as the filmmaking is. But, thankfully, their confidence in the project reminds us that a lack of theatrical prospects should by no means rob audiences of the opportunity to encounter such startling material.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Where to stream A Prayer Before Dawn