Film
Prayers for Bobby
A 2009 HBO drama about a mother's journey from religious rejection to advocacy after her gay son's suicide. Sigourney Weaver delivers a performance of raw emotional excavation, tracing one woman's shattering reckoning with faith, love, and the cost of conditional acceptance. Quietly devastating and occasionally difficult, it's essential viewing for anyone navigating family, faith, or both.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want a quiet, unshowy family drama where a rigid household's blind spots are shown through close, patient observation rather than speeches, and where Sigourney Weaver carries much of the weight.
Skip it if you need a fast-moving plot or a sharp, showy film, since this is a made-for-television drama that moves slowly and keeps its emotions restrained.
What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, mostly in one family's home, with long silences at the dinner table and little relief from the tension, so settle in for a patient, heavy sitting.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Moonlight2016
Three chapters of a Black gay man's life, told with poetic restraint. Like Prayers for Bobby, it refuses easy answers and finds profound humanity in quiet moments of vulnerability and connection.
But Deliberately slow and introspective; minimal plot. If you need conventional narrative momentum, this will feel like watching paint dry.
The Normal Heart2014
Ryan Murphy's HBO film about the early AIDS crisis and one man's fight for acknowledgment. Shares Prayers' moral urgency and the specific pain of watching institutions—medical, religious, governmental—fail the people who need them most.
But Angry and bleak. The hopelessness is real and persistent, which is exactly the point, but it can feel relentless.
Paris, Texas1984
Wim Wenders' masterpiece about a man reassembling his fractured family. Both films understand that redemption isn't about forgetting damage—it's about moving through it with whatever grace you can find.
But Deliberately paced to the point of stillness. Long silences, minimal dialogue. You have to meet it halfway.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Prayers for Bobby
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
BPM (Beats per Minute)2017
Both trace how love and loss reshape understanding. Prayers shows an individual spiritual journey; BPM shows a community's political one.
Robin Campillo's film about an ACT UP cell in 1990s Paris during the height of the AIDS crisis. The connection is grief transformed into collective action—where Prayers for Bobby shows private reckoning, BPM shows what happens when that reckoning becomes public rage and resistance.
But Graphic sexual content and nudity. Deliberately confrontational in how it handles bodies and desire. Not a film about AIDS victims—it's a film about living people fighting to stay alive.
More like this (8)
Transparent2014
Jill Soloway's series about a family reckoning with their parent's transition. Shares the emotional architecture of Prayers: generational trauma, religious baggage, the work of loving someone you don't immediately understand.
But Episodes can feel like emotional punishment. The show doesn't believe in neat resolutions, which is honest but exhausting.
The Boys in the Band1970
Mart Crowley's landmark play adapted to film: nine men, one birthday party, decades of accumulated hurt. A historical document of pre-Stonewall pain and the gallows humor that kept people alive. Beautifully acted and unflinching.
But Dated dialogue and attitudes, even within the piece itself. The homophobia is structural, and some of the characterization feels like it belongs to 1968, not now.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt1989
Documentary weaving together stories of people lost to AIDS through the stories behind individual quilt panels. Like Prayers for Bobby, it's about grief transformed into remembrance and what we choose to honor.
But Emotionally devastating throughout. Not a film you watch for catharsis—you watch it to bear witness, which is different and harder.
Pride2014
A Welsh mining town befriends a London gay-rights group during the 1984 strike. Finds genuine comedy and connection without diminishing the real stakes, something Prayers for Bobby accomplishes through different means entirely.
But Tonal whiplash between comedy and grief. The lightness can feel almost disrespectful until you realize what the film is actually doing.
Milk2008
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official. Driven by rage and hope in equal measure. Complements Prayers for Bobby by showing what political visibility was meant to protect against.
But Can feel didactic. The script sometimes tells rather than shows, and the editing is occasionally heavy-handed.
A Single Man2009
Tom Ford's directorial debut: a gay professor navigating a single day after his partner's death. Visually exquisite and intimate. Explores grief from the inside in a way that echoes Prayers' quiet, devastating specificity.
But More style than substance for some viewers. The visual beauty can feel like it's doing the emotional work instead of the performances.
The Danish Girl2015
Two films about spouses trying to love people they're not prepared to understand. Prayers for Bobby does this with devastating honesty; The Danish Girl attempts the same work through a more romantic lens.
Tom Hooper's account of Einar Wegener, one of the first people to undergo gender transition. Eddie Redmayne's performance is a mirror-image of Weaver's: both actors playing someone watching their partner transform while battling their own grief and confusion.
But Heavily fictionalized and criticized for centering the cisgender partner's experience. Lena Dunham's involvement puts some people off. Takes real artistic liberties with historical fact.
Moonrise Kingdom2012
Both examine what happens when love contradicts institutional expectation. Prayers for Bobby shows the tragedy of that conflict; Moonrise Kingdom imagines a tender escape from it.
Wes Anderson's whimsical film about two twelve-year-olds falling in love. The connection isn't obvious: it's about how institutions—family, church, state—try to suppress what feels natural and true. Anderson's careful, symmetrical framing becomes a meditation on control and escape.
But Mannered and precious to the point of coldness. If Anderson's aesthetic doesn't speak to you, the film's emotional core gets buried under the design. It's a children's film only if you squint.
People
Cast
Sigourney WeaverMary Griffith
Henry CzernyRobert Griffith
Ryan KelleyBobby Griffith
Austin NicholsEd Griffith
Carly SchroederJoy Griffith
Scott BaileyDavid
Rebecca Louise MillerJeanette
Shannon EagenNancy Griffith
Susan RuttanBetty Lambert
Dan ButlerReverend Whitsell
Lee GarlingtonPsychologist- Madge LevinsonOphelia
Directing
- Russell MulcahyDirector
Writing
- Leroy AaronsBook
- Katie FordTeleplay
Production
- Chris TaaffeExecutive Producer
- Daniel SladekExecutive Producer
- David PermutExecutive Producer
- Stanley M. BrooksExecutive Producer
- Damian GanczewskiProducer
Recommended by
Love! Valour! Compassion!, One Nation Under God, For the Bible Tells Me So, Latter Days, Heretic, Coming Out, The Bedroom Commandments, 3 Generations, Breakfast on Pluto, Riot, Acceptance