Eliza Hittman’s devastatingly spare portrait of
abortion access in the US is one of the most quietly powerful films of the year Follow our countdown of the 50 best films of 2020Never Rarely Sometimes Always, writer-director Eliza Hittman’s reticent, watchful film on two 17-year-old girls’ journey across state lines for an abortion, is about as opposite in tone to the incendiary, patronising
anti-abortion movement in the US as one can get: understated, devastatingly spare, resonantly attuned to the unsaid, be it pain or the friendship tested by a healthcare system that leaves so many seeking reproductive care on their own.
There are numerous ways to go about depicting the obstacle course that is abortion access in the US –
HBO Max’s Unpregnant, released this year, routes the same premise into a mostly charming roadtrip buddy
comedy – but this is one of the most quietly powerful films of the year in its utter lack of pretension. The Sundance breakout allows the girls’ navigation of the hurdles – legal, financial, logistical, emotional – to compound into a searing portrait of reproductive healthcare in the US that lingers like a yellowing bruise.