The United States of America :flag_us: always make tacky remakes that don't have a third of the charm of the original. Even though this is not even a remake, it’s just Americanized (plagiarized) version of _4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days_ :flag_ro:, which is, of course, directly the better, bleaker and more affecting movie of the two.

_Never Rarely Sometimes Always_ tackles 3 topics:

**1. Abortion.** There is no character development from start to finish. These characters are basically robots, so I felt no empathy for the main girl in spite of the depressing matter. Her shitty attitude towards people also doesn’t help with that. The way she treats her cousin is terrible. She essentially pimps her out for bus tickets, I couldn’t understand why the girls didn’t ask for help from someone back home, instead of prostituting. The big moment of the movie (where its namesake comes from) is the only solid scene that really sparked any emotions. Other than that, Autumn is exactly the same at the end of the film as she is in the beginning. That’s why, I don’t get the praise for the acting, because it’s the same type of emotion being used the whole time.

**2. Toxic masculinity.** All of the male characters in this movie are creepy perverts. But they are one-dimensional caricatures - the step father calling the dog a slut, the guy who kisses hands all the time at grocery store - who does that? Creators are so blatantly concerned with their political message that they can’t create any sense of real characters. I like when the message isn’t right up in your face and forced. There's definitely room for toxic male presence, but the parade of awful men is too reductive for me. Americans have his simplistic view of _“men bad, women good”_ when the reality is far more complex.


**3. The third main character is … transport.** Yes, you read it right, transport. Probably 75% of this movie shows the protagonist and her cousin going somewhere (or waiting to go somewhere) by bus, by metro, or by walk. All of this makes the movie very repetitive, there were far too many run on shots where nothing is said.

This is _exactly_ the sort of film that makes critics drool all over at Sundance. _Never Rarely Sometimes Always_ is the stereotypical independent film - little dialogue, zero characterization or plot, shaky cam, and bland cinematography. All of the long scenes with no dialogue are just an excuse for the lack of story, and have to give off this feeling of pseudo deepness because the movie contains an important message.