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
