Choosing to Carry On

Meanwhile, in the world, all of our lives have changed. Including Eliza Hittman’s.

The writer-director of Beach Rats was coming into spring H-O-T-hot with Never Rarely Sometimes Always, an eagerly anticipated eye-opener of a film that was celebrated with a Dramatic Special Jury Prize at January’s Sundance Film Festival – on account of its cinematic neorealism and deftly handled subject matter (a young woman’s right to choose vis-à-vis limited reproductive care options and the stigma and debate around it all) – and fêted at February’s Berlin International Film Festival with a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. The drama was supposed to open theatrically on March 13, but, you know: COVID-19.

Now, the film will become available for home premiere on April 3. The $19.99 rental will be available for a 48-hour viewing period.

Written and directed by Hittman, the film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, 17-year-old 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.

If you support the girls, if you want to support the girls always, then this one is for you.