'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' A Review

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a drama about a young woman in small town Pennsylvania who deals with an unwanted pregnancy. The film opens on Autumn(Sidney Flanigan) performing in her high school talent show and being heckled by one of her male classmates. The day after she visits a crisis pregnancy clinic where although she wants to terminate the pregnancy she is given adoption pamphlets and shown an anti-aborition video. With her cousin Skylar(Talia Ryder) she travels to New York City to visit a Planned Parenthood.

Flanigan gives an incredibly nuanced, layered performance, conveying both strength and maturity but also youthful petulance and humor. The day to day threats and obstacles she faces are staggering in their quantity and seeming mundanity. Flanigan is remarkably assured given the sheer complexity of the role coupled with the minimal dialogue. Ryder also is stunning in the solidity of her presense and in her mostly wordless but totally clear and compelling chemistry with Flanigan. Both performances hinge on both actors exceptional ability to convey extensive information and emotion through physicality and implication as the dialogue is sparse to the point of non-exsistence for extensive sequences. The supporting cast are equally effecting but the story and it's focus are on Autumn and Skylar and other than a bravura scene featuring real life social worker Kelly Chapman, which is mostly Flanigan in a close up, none of the supporting cast are given much screen time.

Shot in mostly immersive hand-held style the film transports you into Autumn's perspective and world, the cinematography convey's a sense of anxiety and fear, even claustrophobic at times that echo's it's lead. The score is minimal and melancholic, the production elements synchronize with the performances and script beautifully to create this authentic harrowing but ultimately empowering tale of survival and strength.

At times difficult but absolutely essential viewing. A painful but affirming story of courage and perseverance.

Available on most VOD platforms.

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