"Never Rarely Sometimes Always" _ Reviewing this a few weeks ago, I noted the exceptional timeliness of one of the most honest and empathetic American movies about abortion rights in recent memory. And yet Eliza Hittman's beautifully observed independent drama _ a big prizewinner at the recent Sundance and Berlin film festivals _ couldn't have been the victim of worse timing: The Focus Features release opened March 13, just days before movie theaters were ordered to close in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.
If "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" didn't get the theatrical attention it deserved, it's wonderful that the movie will be available for on-demand viewing starting Friday. Starring a revelatory Sidney Flanigan as a 17-year-old who embarks on an extraordinarily difficult journey with her cousin (Talia Ryder), it's a poignant, quietly lacerating drama about, among other things, the consolations of friendship and the labyrinthine complexities of the American health care system. It's also a bracing reminder that the political is always personal. Talk about timely.
_ Justin Chang
