When Graham and Sarah decided to do an episode on Never Rarely Sometimes Always, it was not a topical film. Its storyline, about a young girl crossing state lines in order to get an abortion, now puts it at the forefront of a major American news story, but there’s much more to Eliza Hittman’s film than being merely newsworthy. It’s a haunting, measured, beautifully acted and shot film that never lets its unmistakable anger overwhelm its humanity, complete with a small but meaningful appearance from the acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon van Etten.
Van Etten’s appearance is one of two things that qualifies NRSA (as all the cool kids are calling it) for this podcast – the other is the soundtrack by Julia Holter, whose career is also discussed. Other topics of conversation include this film’s superiority over a certain other, more garlanded, stab at feminist cinema from 2020, the unexpected way Hittman found her lead actress, the career of the film’s cinematographer Hélène Louvart, the minor scandal involving this film’s lock-out at the Academy Awards and – for some reason – confusing Werner Herzog with Wim Wenders. It might be a more serious Pop Screen than usual, but it is still Pop Screen.
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