Tag Archives: Eliza Hittman

2020 Films, Drama, Eliza Hittman, Independent, Independent Drama

Never Rarely Sometimes Always-2020

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Never Rarely Sometimes Always-2020

Director-Eliza Hittman

Starring-Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder

Scott’s Review #1,142

Reviewed May 14, 2021

Grade: A

I’ll confess that a teen drama centered on abortion involving conflicted female characters wouldn’t be the first film I’d sit down and watch. Done before and not my demographic I assumed little in common with the characters. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) blew me away and taught me a valuable lesson- never judge a film by its synopsis.

The film only entered my radar because of positive buzz and a handful of independent film awards. Hopefully, this recognition catapults the director and actresses to other excellent projects.

It’s not that director, Eliza Hittman does anything particularly different with the vehicle on the surface. I jest slightly because she takes a standard story and hits it out of the ballpark so that even us middle-aged folks with no kids can remain engaged. The film can be watched by anyone as it compels completely.

I was enamored from scene one.

Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, Never Rarely Sometimes Always doesn’t get on a soapbox about whether abortion is right or wrong. It’s not about that though I can guess Hittman’s likely position on the topic. Rather, it gives a fresh, raw, and realistic depiction of what it’s like for a seventeen-year-old girl to be scared and pregnant and, in some parts of the United States, unable to get proper guidance or treatment. This could shape her whole life.

The kicker is that one doesn’t necessarily need to live in the middle of nowhere for this to occur. This note shocked me and quite frankly frightened me.

Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin, Skylar (Talia Ryder), travel from suburban Pennsylvania across state lines to New York City on a challenging journey of friendship, compassion, and a bit of adventure.

Autumn is brooding and upset yet holds it mostly together. She performs beautifully at a high school pep rally despite being snickered at by a rude boy in the audience. Afterward, her family goes for pizza and soda to celebrate whereas her stepfather is unable to praise Autumn.

The tension between Autumn and her stepfather is very ambiguous. Could he be the father or the boy she presumably dated and now wants nothing to do with her?

We realize that the males in Autumn’s life pretty much suck after her boss disgustingly kisses her hand as a daily ritual.

She goes to a discreet mom-and-pop clinic where she learns she is pregnant. The woman in charge callously shows Autumn horrific abortion videos when she suspects Autumn might be flirting with the idea of getting one.

Autumn and Skylar realize they must flee their one-horse town for the hustle and bustle, and better medical care, provided by New York City. They steal cash from their job and make the jaunt on a bus.

This is the point where the film takes off. As the girls arrive at the chaotic Port of Authority bus terminal I felt like I was on the journey with them. They arrive at a clinic and meet a kind receptionist and technician who tell her she is sixteen weeks pregnant instead of the ten weeks she thought she was. Her procedure will take two days.

Where will they stay? What will they eat? The procedure is costly so how will they pay for the bus fare home? A boy they meet on the bus reappears and maybe their savior but at what price?

These are some of the questions I as the viewer was thinking throughout the experience just as Autumn and Skylar were.

The most powerful scene occurs when Autumn receives question after question from the technician which is the crux of the title of the film. We sadly realize that Autumn has faced some sort of sexual abuse before. The film does not reveal exactly what happened which is clever and makes the scene more powerful.

Never Rarely Sometimes Never is a slow-moving vehicle but because of the outstanding acting talents of Flanigan and Ryder, I was completely engaged, hooked, and suckered. I fell in love with these characters and the entirety of the film feels incredibly authentic.

A film that grapples with despair, hope, fear, journey, friendship, and much much more than its main storyline offers, Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) is a brave film that hits a home run.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Feature, Best Director-Eliza Hittman, Best Female Lead-Sidney Flanigan, Best Supporting Female-Talia Ryder, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing

2017 Films, Drama, Eliza Hittman, Harris Dickinson, Independent, Independent Drama, Kate Hodge, LGBTQ+ Drama, LGBTQ+ Films, Madeline Weinstein, Neal Huff

Beach Rats-2017

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Beach Rats-2017

Director Eliza Hittman

Starring Harris Dickinson

Scott’s Review #719

Reviewed January 26, 2018

Grade: A-

Beach Rats is a 2017 coming of age film penned and directed by Eliza Hittman, a young female director from Brooklyn, New York, who incorporates her familiar geographical settings into only her second feature film.

2013’s It Felt Like Love received two Independent Film nominations, and Beach Rats has followed suit, garnering a Best Actor nomination and a Best Cinematography mention.

The film is a terrific story of conflict that its target audience will surely relate to.

The film is very low-budget but a successful character study of a young man named Frankie, played by newcomer Harris Dickinson, who wrestles with family issues and his sexuality while hanging out with his troubled friends and dating his sometime girlfriend.

Beach Rats is not a downer but rather an interesting glimpse into a teenager’s life and struggle with self-identity.

Mirroring It Felt Like Love, Hittman uses plenty of locales unique to Brooklyn, the most identifiable being the borough’s watery, nighttime beaches, which gives the film an authentic feel.

Many scenes are shot outdoors, which is a strong point of the film. Like many independent films, Beach Rats uses several “non-actors” in small roles, adding depth to the blue-collar, sometimes harsh, Brooklyn feels.

With only two features to her credit, Hittman is successful at having her hand-print on her films, making them identifiable as her own.

It is interesting how the director chooses a male character to write for. Similar to the female Liza in It Felt Like Love, both she and Frankie are vulnerable and coming to terms with their sexual feelings and desires.

The fact that Liza is straight and Frankie, at most, bisexual, is the only strength of the complex writer/director.

Dickinson is perfectly cast as Frankie. Good-looking, with chiseled features and a lithe, toned body, his bright blue eyes are expressive, as the audience empathizes with his many dilemmas.

Beach Rats is much more than a traditional “gay film”, which is admirable, it is more complex than that.

By 2017, the common theme of coming to terms with one’s sexuality has been explored.

According to Frankie, he “just has sex with men” and refuses to identify as either gay or bisexual. It is implied that because of his group of trouble-making friends, who only want to get high, he might be faced with resistance if he ever came out to them.

The supporting cast is well represented, Frankie’s mother, Donna (Kate Hodge), is faced with a tricky predicament as her husband, Frankie’s father, has just died of cancer, ripping the family apart.

She knows that Frankie keeps things from her, is she figuring out Frankie’s sexual secrets?

Donna implies that it is okay for Frankie to tell her anything, admirable, combined with her problems. Frankie’s girlfriend, Simone, is coming into her own as Frankie is, and even though the duo shares a sweet relationship, it appears doomed for failure.

The most interesting scenes in Beach Rats occur between Frankie and the mostly older men he meets virtually or in person. Though Frankie is quite nervous, Dickinson always makes the character appear confident and well beyond his years.

Being street-smart, he is never taken advantage of, as he is familiar with young men and older men. Why he mostly prefers older men is never explained, but it might have anything to do with seeking to fill the void left by his deceased father.

Or is it simply to reduce the risk of running into anyone he might know within his age group?

Hittman is not shy about featuring nudity, yet each scene is tastefully done and never seems to be for either shock value or to elicit a gasp. Full frontal nudity is featured, as well as scenes of Frankie engaging in sexual acts with both the men and his girlfriend.

Sure, Dickinson has a perfect body, but his assets are not on display unnecessarily.

More often than many “box office” films, independent films are given much creative freedom to tell a good story. Thankfully, in the case of Beach Rats, the audience is lucky enough to view a quiet, introspective tale of a conflicted adolescent and how he deals with demons and complex feelings.

Particularly for the predominantly LGBT audience who will see the film, Beach Rats (2017) will have much to offer.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Male Lead-Harris Dickinson, Best Cinematography

2013 Films, Drama, Eliza Hittman, Gina Piersanti, Independent, Independent Drama

It Felt Like Love-2013

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It Felt Like Love-2013

Director Eliza Hittman

Starring Gina Piersanti

Scott’s Review #283

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Reviewed October 17, 2015

Grade: B

It Felt Like Love is a small, independent film from 2013, that garnered two Independent Spirit awards for its efforts.

A coming of age story encompassing a vulnerable and naïve fourteen-year-old girl, aware of her budding sexuality and developing a crush on an older rebellious boy.

Quiet and subdued, the film tells an honest story of a young girl’s emotional struggles surrounding jealousy, loneliness, and fitting in.

Lila is a typical teenager living in New York City in what appears to be a blue-collar area of Brooklyn. Lila emulates her seemingly more mature (she is turning sixteen), and much more sexually experienced best friend, Chiara.

Never without a boyfriend, and very popular, Chiara gains the attention of almost every boy she is around.

One day on the beach, a handsome friend of Chiara’s, named Sammy, passes by, when Chiara describes him as “sleeping with anyone”, Lila becomes fixated on him. As she pursues him relentlessly, she puts herself in precarious situations and gets in way over her head.

Throughout this drama, Lila’s best male friend and neighbor, a child-like and innocent-looking kid contrasts perfectly with the rugged, older Sammy.

Lila has two “men” in her life, who could not be further opposites. The neighbor kid represents her youth, and Sammy, her adulthood, and she is stuck somewhere in the middle, wrestling between the two stages of her life.

The film is the debut of acclaimed director, Eliza Hittman, who weaves an interesting and true-to-life premise. The feelings and emotions of a fourteen-year-old girl are powerful and often involve risk-taking without any thoughts of repercussion.

Liza is extremely vulnerable as anyone her age is, especially since the film reveals that she has recently lost her mother to breast cancer. Her father is a caring yet no-nonsense type and is written well- as a typical blue-collar father would act-.

The standout to me is the actress who plays Lila, Gina Piersanti. What a marvel! The youngster brilliantly portrays a range of emotions- gloominess, insecurity, and annoyance.

She is insecure but intelligent and savvy for her age. Her obsession for Sammy, clearly from the wrong side of the tracks, is dangerous, as he smokes pot regularly, parties, and works in a pool hall.

He ultimately is not for her and I think Lila knows this deep down. But at her age, she is craving attention and sexually blooming.

All of the actors in the film are newcomers and do a fantastic job of relaying honesty. Lila’s motivations are not always clear, but then again, she is a teenager- moods and motivations change with the weather.

During one powerful scene, Lila hangs out at Sammy’s apartment (where she usually can be found and is perceived as a pest). Sammy and his two friends are smoking pot and watching basketball on television.

Somehow, the subject matter turns to oral sex. As Sammy’s friends eagerly accept Lila’s awkward offer to pleasure them, Sammy rebuffs her advances and says that his “privates” do not like her. This seems to bring acceptance to Lila to leave him alone.

The audience hopes she musters her self-esteem and goes on with her life. The showing of full-frontal male nudity was surprising to me- very seldom is this shown in American cinema.

Interestingly, we never actually see Lila engage in any sexual activity- the point of the film is that she wants to desperately, but we cringe as we fear for the worst in each dangerous sexual encounter she experiences.

Perhaps it could have been further developed or fleshed out, but, It Felt Like Love (2013) is a truthful, quiet film with powerful acting and writing from new talent sure to be around for years to come, with the wonderful skills they possess.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Cinematography