Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

When a talented Pennsylvania teen named Autumn (played by Sidney Flanigan) finds out she’s pregnant, she has no choice but to go to an abortion clinic in New York City with her cousin Skylar (played by Talia Ryder), when Autumn realizes she has no support in her small Pennsylvania town.

Eliza Hittman’s third feature film Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a harrowing, heartbreaking, matter of fact, absorbing observation of teen pregnancy in rural Pennsylvania. Shot Guerilla style under a grey color plate of grey/gloomy skies, Eliza Hittman accurately captures the mundane limitations of Autumn’s life. To her abusive ex boyfriend, her busy/ removed mother, her abrasive disinterested step father, and her empty grocery store job. The camera stays with Autumn at every frame displaying her thoughts straight from her face, as she tries to comprehend the situation she’s trapped in, while keeping it all from her family. This is a character study of a broken girl who’s in a desperate place; Autumn is a girl whom loves to sing and write music, but without support and love when in need of an abortion, being a teenage makes that choice even harder. Never Rarely Sometimes Always properly depicts how a teenage would handle getting an abortion in New York City from rural Pennsylvania. From not having a place to stay to sleeping on the subway waiting for an appointment, to not having the money for the procedure, to discovering the next to impossible steps that need to be taken in getting an abortion from how long the procedure takes to the questions that need to be asked to a patient for their own well being. Eliza Hittman’s film also looks set in 2007, but that’s cause that’s how life is in certain rural Pennsylvania towns. Things aren’t as affordable or adaptable with current items and looks due to the economic state of a town, which gives an interesting insight within the film about the assumptions of all of America and the expectations of all pregnancy clinics in America as well.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is importantly about the historical and systematic forcefulness towards young women and women in general, to do things they don’t want to do for the pleasure of others, especially for men. Whether it be to have sex, take a wage decrease or to be banned from getting an abortion or forced into getting one. Women/girls have always been forced into something with disregard towards their well being and will. Never Rarely Sometimes Always shines a sobering, disturbing light on those ongoing facts of society, as well within the pregnancy clinic community, exposing the truth that some clinics don’t want women to have an abortion and give them false information to delay the process of getting an abortion. Sad but true. Never Rarely Sometimes Always wants us to feel Autumn’s pain in the abortion system but also wants us to remember that Autumn is a teenage. A teenage with hopes and dreams and a creative spirit that will always be there when times are at their toughest.

Sidney Flanigan is an incredible actress that will no doubt be seen in many great roles to come. Her attention to detail when showing hurt, pain, apathy or happiness through her face, is extremely accurate, and her depiction of a teenager with unsure questions and bashful secrecy and having a wall up, feels too real. On top of that Sidney Flanigan’s singing voice is a treasure you’ll be glad to be exposed to, and her singing in the film is the shining light amongst the film’s gloomy oppressive atmosphere. The whole cast is incredible, including Autumn’s cousin Skyler played by Talia Ryder, who plays Autumn’s one and only support, helping and leading Autumn to her appointments and making sure things work out, even to her own physical expense. The acting is real as can be and has reminiscent feels of certain Canadian film making and of the Guerrilla style of directors Harmony Korine or Gary Burns.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is beyond powerful, and though about a depressing but important subject matter, involving depressing scenes; The film is ultimately about the teenage spirit and female bond, empowerment and support, in a world where women face abuse from every which way from men of all kinds, and with the fact that we live in a society where women/girls can have their rights taken away from them at a moments notice. Never Rarely Sometimes Always will leave you sobered and heartbroken, but informed knowing some of the scary/overwhelming ins and outs of pregnancy/abortion politics that keep women from living the life they choose, on the hard headed/bullshit “Pro Life” side of things, and the importance of abortion clinics existing in general. Eliza Hittman though, leaves us with the important feeling of two teen girls who support each other through thick and thin, giggling it out through impossible feats.  10/10. The best film of 2020.

-          - Maurice Jones