Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Name: Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Genre: Drama
Released: March 13, 2020
Duration: 101 min
Rating: 91
Cast: Amy Tribbey, Aurora Richards, Brett Puglisi, Carolina Espiro, Christian Clements

2020

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Overwhelming dislike based on 585 Ratings

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1.2	User Score Overwhelming dislike based on 585 Ratings

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Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: March 13, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Amy Tribbey, Aurora Richards, Brett Puglisi, Carolina Espiro, Christian Clements, Daniel Buneta, David Buneta, Deepti Menon, Denise Pillott, Drew Seltzer, Eliazar Jimenez, Guy A. Fortt, Kim Rios Lin, Lester Greene, Rose Elizabeth Richards, Ryan Eggold, Sam Dugger, Sharon Van Etten, Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin

Summary: Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion

Director: Eliza Hittman

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 101 min

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Awards & Rankings

1	#1 Best Movie of 2020
38	#38 Most Discussed Movie of 2020

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Ann Hornaday

Apr 1, 2020

With empathy and outrage that cut equally deeply, Hittman reminds us: This is a girl’s life in a man’s world. Read full review

100

Clint Worthington

Jan 30, 2020

The glory of Hittman’s film is in finding those moments of beauty among the brutal silences, and the magnetic grace that can be found in a person’s most difficult days. Read full review

Richard Lawson

Mar 26, 2020

It handles a tricky topic with so much persuasively unadorned compassion that it has the genuine potential to change hearts and minds about one of the country’s most contentious battles. Read full review

Justin Chang

Jan 25, 2020

The movie’s sympathies, much like its political convictions, couldn’t be clearer. But paradoxically, what makes “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” so forceful — and certainly the most searingly confrontational American drama about abortion rights in recent memory — is its quality of understatement, its determination to build its argument not didactically but cinematically. Read full review

Tina Hassannia

Apr 2, 2020

Never hints at the quiet, revolutionary nature of empathy and autonomy in empowering young women to keep themselves safe. Read full review

A.A. Dowd

Jan 26, 2020

Hittman isn’t really a polemicist. She expresses her empathy and political conscience through a refined version of what’s become her signature style, zeroing in on details of place and behavior, both magnified by the reliably involving scenario of two kids from the sticks navigating the hustle, bustle, and bright lights of the city. And moments of startling, unaffected tenderness peak through the grimness of the circumstances. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Mar 31, 2020

Writer-director Eliza Hittman has made a controlled and reserved film, and she has placed at its center a reserved and controlled protagonist named Autumn, played with restraint by newcomer Sidney Flanagan. Read full review

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User Reviews

nmuldoon

Apr 3, 2020

Just some immediate reactions since it’s nearly 3AM, but this is an incredibly powerful and effective film. It’s made up of small moments that’s cumulative power is something pretty remarkable to behold. Eliza Hittman’s work reminds me in a lot of ways of Andrea Arnold’s films in the way itJust some immediate reactions since it’s nearly 3AM, but this is an incredibly powerful and effective film. It’s made up of small moments that’s cumulative power is something pretty remarkable to behold. Eliza Hittman’s work reminds me in a lot of ways of Andrea Arnold’s films in the way it creates incredible intimate humanist portraits of fairly insular characters. She also shares a lot in common with her fellow New York compatriots the Safdies Brothers in the way she captures unglamorous but a hyper-specific vision of New York unlike that we normally see in cinema. This attention to details has always been a hallmark of her works but there’s something specifically in this film that makes the world feel so real - little touches like hot sauce packets in a family junk drawer, the feel and atmosphere of being adrift in a city with nowhere to stay, the way a manager tends to speak at a dead-end retail job. Everything in the world of her film feels so lived in. The film tackles the topic of abortion and does so in the least melodramatic way possible, the film rather than announcing it’s thesis just simply takes you through the process and the maddening levels of bureaucracy put in place to keep women from being able to simply make a choice about their bodies. In the midst of all this though it also has a very human story and real friendship and that’s anchored by two incredible performances. Talia Ryder already feels like a star in this film and has such a softness and warmth that you can already see why Spielberg would be casting her in his work. The standout though obviously is Sidney Flanigan. The entire film rests on her shoulders and there’s very few frames she’s not at the direct center of. The character of Autumn requires such control and nuance given how quiet she is. Flanigan keeps this from ever feeling like a passive character though, so much is communicated in just the way she physically responds and so much of her strength comes in the way in which we see her just barely holding on but managing to. It’s an incredibly challenging role to take on and Sidney Flanigan not only rises to the challenge but provides Autumn such a distinct identity. I also don’t wanna go all Sean Baker here, but I love that Eliza Hittman always shoots on film and the cinematography here is absolutely gorgeous.

An early contender for Best Film of 2020… Expand

8 of 185 users found this helpful8177

mifepristone

Jul 4, 2020

best 2020 movie so far. Detractor are just extremist. this is an incredibly powerful and effective film

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

daniel6996

Jul 7, 2020

lmao, this is why i hate ratings. y'all are tasteless as **** this is such a mature movie and an important one. also is a debut film, and such a solid one.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

PaoloKagaoan

Jul 7, 2020

Already reviewed it soemwhere else. Had I known that the antichoicers were gonna brigade this film I would have rated it higher.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

satriaamu

Apr 9, 2020

the issues raised are very relevant but the story line is very slow as well the acting is bad.

5 of 46 users found this helpful541

TheFrog

May 22, 2020

Men bad, women good. No responsibility for women: it's always their choice, unlike for men, who have no means of escaping a life of indentured servitude after an unintended pregnancy that follows consensual sex.
Of course women are always represented in the most sympathetic way possible,Men bad, women good. No responsibility for women: it's always their choice, unlike for men, who have no means of escaping a life of indentured servitude after an unintended pregnancy that follows consensual sex.
Of course women are always represented in the most sympathetic way possible, while men are evil, harassing, controlling. I can see why women love this movie, cannot see a single reason why a man would.… Expand

79 of 86 users found this helpful797

thwewjej

Jul 4, 2020

feminist propaganda about how you can be a strong independent woman but not really because you will always be oppressed by the white cis male patriarchy.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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