Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always throws questions at you as if it were life, making you feel like it’s a test.
Now I know what you may be thinking, this is another film with a basic plot that is quite easy to describe. A teenage girl with “lady problems” that offers no answers.
Well, you are sorely mistaken. This is just merely a deceptive tactic (and title) that lures you into the film and makes you want even more.
We are quickly introduced to Autumn Callahan, a pregnant 17-year-old who resides in Pennsylvania. She is shown at her school’s talent show, originally making us think perhaps this was a musical drama that simultaneously tackles serious themes. Again, wrong…
Autumn has a fabulous voice intertwined with a hint of naivety, almost like Elsie Fisher’s character in Eighth Grade, only for her to be slut-shamed towards the end of her performance. It was gross and uncalled for. But that is only the first problem. After Autumn’s performance, she splashes a glass of water in her perpetrator’s face, who is casually sitting and making facial gestures in a pizza parlour. Her parents do nothing throughout all this.
It makes me wonder how Autumn can even call them mum and dad. Her dad is an insulting alcoholic, and her mum obviously could not give any less of a damn about anything. Upon returning home, she looks in the mirror, only to gaze upon her baby-bumped growth.
Autumn starts to do her research, ultimately realising she cannot get an abortion in Pennsylvania due to the state’s parental consent laws. She then heads off to New York with her cousin Skylar, and what they assumed would be a one-day journey, turns into a series of complications, or should I say, procedures.
Hittman’s screenplay is slightly problematic. She fails to give us an answer to who Autumn’s unborn child’s father might be, only hinting at possible candidates, none of which are good. The scene that provides the film’s title is a nauseating, anxiety inducing back and forth moment that further opens you up to Autumn’s hauntingly dark past.
What is most important about Never Rarely Sometimes Always is in its remarkability in never over-dramatising its approach towards womanhood, or the challenges that come with it. This is seen in scenes that elaborate more on Skylar’s approach to tackle verbal sexual assault – at the workplace too – being forcefully kissed to get what you need and even Autumn’s abortion which treats its topic as not as a choice that is right or wrong, seen even long after the credits roll.
It is such a shame that this film was released at the time it did. It premiered at Sundance but felt like the type of film that could have been distributed by A24, in part due to Ella’s cinematography and sensitive direction. Additionally, given its independence, this film will not garner the amount of attention that it should.
I am not sure whether that is a problem or not. If it were mainstream, I feel like a Boys Will Be Boys single by Dua Lipa would have been a great addition to the mundane soundtrack. In any case, this hopefully showcases Eliza Hittman and puts her where she needs to be, also highlighting modern filmmaking in the decade we are in.
By Zach Omitowoju
Feature image: Polygon