Nunca, Raramente, Às Vezes, Sempre

This film tells a teenage girl having to go through a very difficult time of her life, with only the support of her cousin. The scene which features the title of this film is very effective and emotional. The latter part of the film is pretty slow, but heart wrenching.

Autumn Callahan (Sidney Flanigan) is an outsider at school. She's also pregnant. Abortions are restricted in her small town Pennsylvania home and she faces many hurdles. She tells her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder). They steal money from their work and head off to New York City.

This is a sincere pro-choice indie presenting a realistic portrait of a teen girl on her abortion journey. It's not the most dramatic story. The acting is quiet. The drama is muted. I thought the movie may do something with the boy, but it ends up being understated. I certainly understand the simplicity of the story to highlight this issue-centered story. The girls are doing nice work. This is effective for an audience of a certain leaning.

About as far from a feel good movie as you're likely to find, Never Rarely Sometimes Always is not a film made to cheer its audience up or provide entertainment in the typical sense of the word but Eliza Hittman's career defining feature is a powerful and quietly spoken drama that deserves plaudits for its raw and uncompromising look at both teen pregnancy and abortion, in what is often considered a taboo subject matter for features.

Starring relatively unknown actresses Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder as cousins and friends Autumn and Skylar, Pennsylvanian natives who must venture to New York City when Autumn becomes pregnant and decides she is not ready to have a child of her own, Always is a road trip movie without any of the laughs or follies that are usually associated with such a narrative and Hittman and her actresses keep the film imbedded in an almost documentary like realism that may sap your energy but keeps you gripped throughout as Autumn's life changing decision draws closer.

Both Autumn and Skylar don't make for the most enjoyable of travel companions, both are clearly victims of their not ideal situations and harsh realities of a world in which they are seen as game to the men preying on them at all angles whether it be at school, work or general public and both of the girls have bypassed much in the way of personality but people like these two lost souls exist in the world and Hittman is determined to ensure her film is a warts and all experience for both her characters and her audience members.

Devoid mostly of color or flair, the world of Autumn and Skylar is bleak like their future prospects seem to be but Always finds a heart and soul in allowing these two struggling teenagers to be that, versions of real life people going through real life decisions and situations that we may not always care to think about but are there ever present regardless.

This type of true to life tale is the type of film that should find a place in schools and grown families lounge rooms, its not a film to watch for the pure delight of it but its one that should be talked about and discussed if for nothing more than to consider what life on the other side of the tracks may be like and how people and their situations shape and mold their decisions as they go through this great big world and their individual lives.

Final Say -

A tough film and one that refuses to shy away from its intense subject matter, Never Rarely Sometimes Always is an important little film that tackles some weighty and often unspoken about tales.

3 1/2 luggage bags out of 5.

Torn on this. On one hand it's superbly directed and I respect how its shot in such a non-judgemental way, with a real empathy for its characters and the situation they're dealing with. There's a real honesty to it.

But on the other hand it's also.... a bit of a snoozefest at times and kinnnda underwritten. The protagonist is very quiet and reserved, in a role that's super challenging because you have to convey so much with so little. The film lives and dies by how you connect to that character and in this case it just didn't quite work for me.

When trying to understand why, I thought of Manchester by the Sea for some reason and think the lead performance in that film really captured the energy this was going for, albeit much more successfully. The exception to this possibly being the scene this film derives its name from, which is honestly heartbreaking and one of the more moving moments in cinema this year.

The name Eliza Hittman meant nothing to me when I saw it in the credits for this movie, but then the Internet reminded me that she also directed "Beach Rats," one of the undiscovered gems of 2017. Now with "Never Rarely Sometimes Always," Hittman has once again proven herself to be one of the most adept filmmakers at tackling the perilous transition from teenager to adult, whether in boys or girls.

"Never Rarely Sometimes Always" resembles another exceptional abortion film, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days," though this film doesn't exist in the same menacing environment as that other one. Still, the prospects for the young girl in Hittman's film are no less bleak. For a long time, the film seems to be about the logistics of obtaining an abortion and the desperate lengths a young pregnant woman will go to to have one. But a scene, or should I say THE scene, set in an abortion clinic that gives the film its title, reveals that this film isn't really about abortion as much as it's about sexual abuse and predation. Pregnant or not, abortion or not, this young woman has already been damaged many times before the movie even starts, and it's likely, the film implies, that she'll be damaged again.

Hittman is able to get the most amazing performances out of young and inexperienced actors. In "Beach Rats," she directed Harris Dickinson to an award worthy performance, and she does the same here for Sidney Flanigan, playing an inarticulate and frequently silent young woman whose silence nevertheless speaks volumes.

Grade: A