Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

Pregnancy storylines in dramas are a sensitive topic to tackle in movies. They are usually either grouped into comedies, dramas, or even comedy-dramas and how they are handled varies with whether it's used to push people to grow up out of their childlike antics or lead them to making decisions regarding the unborn child. 2020 had 2 films that were buzzed about a little on social media with those who were making comparisons between them. I reviewed one of them, Unpregnant, last month after watching it on HBO Max and nearing the end of my 2020 watchlist, I decided to check out the other one. This brings us to Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which was written and directed by Eliza Hittman. It debuted in film festivals gaining critical praise and was released onto HBO Max later on. After watching it to conclude my 2020 watchlist, I ended up feeling underwhelming by its weaknesses in this well-made drama. 

What's it about? The story follows a pregnant 17 year old who travels with her cousin from Pennsylvania to New York in order to get an abortion (without parental consent). This is very much an uncomfortable slice of life type of narrative in how it approaches its environments in honest realism. There isn't much that happens in terms of dramatic material or plot twists as its primarily focused on the protagonist navigating through a sensitive process. The interpretation of the clinics that visited in the city don't have any of that Hollywood-ized shine to it but are more straight to the point about their services/aid. The main highlight in this story is a questionnaire that shows up in the final third where the main character is asked about personal details (where the movies title comes into play) as its execution is the best thing about it.

While those details are well-done, the rest of the aspects outside of that cause unintended issues, which could explain the audience-critic divide over this. For starters, the protagonist isn't fleshed out much in terms of having a personality or her reasons for wanting an abortion. It doesn't explore her background enough to build a connection for anyone to latch onto as she makes her travels, just showing glimpses of her family life and her job. There is chunk of meandering in spots that feels like it was needed to create a financial roadblock for later as well as pad out the short runtime. If the first act did a far better job in establishing better depth to explore with the pregnant teen, the rest of the story would have a much bigger impact.

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actresses to focus on are Sydney Flanigan and Talia Ryder. Sydney does a good job with her reserved performance as she does what she can for a role that feels more like a stand-in rather than having much character. Talia gives a nice portrayal that acts as a support for the protagonist while have competent chemistry with Sydney. Honorable mentions go to Theodore Pellerin and Kelly Chapman due to the former doing a solid performance as a creep (is the least creepiest persona in the film) while the latter gives a good portrayal as a clinic support specialist during the questionnaire scene. 

 

Overall Consensus: Never Rarely Sometimes Always has solid well-made values to help this uncomfortable slice of life drama in its realism but falters when its comes to developing a connection with its lead and doesn't land a big impact. ⭑⭑⭑3/4 Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes PG-13

 

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Eliza Hittman. You like realistic uneasy slice of life stories. You want to see pregnancy angles handled well in terms of the clinic parts.

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Eliza Hittman. You are bored with realistic slice of life stories. You dislike seeing creepy people in films.