What might you say if you came face to face with the parents of the child who killed your child?

This is the nightmare proposition that first-time director Fran Kranz tackles in Mass, a title that references the school mass shooting at the heart of the story as well as the location for the meeting in a neutral small town church. It’s six years since the massacre and parents of victim Evan, Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton), are here because their therapist thinks it will be good for them. Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard (Reed Birney) are the divorced parents of the gunman, Hayden.

Over the course of an hour, they talk. They touch on so many elements that we all struggle to understand – how could a parent not know, how can we sit by and do nothing, how can you make a life count? It’s a beautifully crafted exchange with four excellent performances, particularly from Plimpton and Dowd. It swirls around and ebbs and flows as they face their grief, remorse, anger and confusion, building to an ending that keeps giving.

The gift for us is the opportunity to sit with the reality of these people’s experiences without the distraction of political arguments or moralising. At a time in the USA where ordinary people are increasingly desperate to make schools a safe space, any focus that highlights the human cost can only have a positive impact.

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