It's only a few days before a documentary I'm featured in arrives at Indy Film Fest. So, it feels like perfect timing to have 2024 Hoosier Lens - Narrative Feature winner Never Not Yours come across my desk ready for review in advance of its streaming release with Deep C Digital.
Never Not Yours is the kind of not quite cozy family-centered drama that feels right being shot in Indiana. In this case, the film was shot in beautiful Brown County and features a largely Chicago-based cast. Adult siblings Michael (Josh Bywater), Ellie (Angela Morris), and James (Timmy H. Barron) have been invited by their parents (John Lister, Laura Fisher) to the old family cabin for a gathering.
As we meet our trio of siblings, it becomes clear that they are still maturing - some more successfully than others. There's something endearing and recognizable about all three of them.
Josh Bywater's Michael appears to be the most "together" of the three. Whatever that means.
Timmy H. Barron as James is kinda sorta the polar opposite - at least in the eyes of his father.
Angela Morris as Ellis is, at least for me, the most compelling of the three with family ties at times knotted and with a quietly aching emotional vulnerability that draws you to her instantly.
There are a zillion reasons, of course, that a family drama would bring all the siblings together. In this case, parents Jonathan and Maddie are announcing their divorce. It's quickly apparent that there's a lingering disconnect and a sense of peace with this direction now set in stone.
The story that unfolds from here isn't simply about a divorce and its impact on this five-person family. It's about how life tends to take us in different directions. It's about how our relationships change, our identities change, and how even the ways we see and experience those we love changes over time.
Sometimes, it could be said and has been said by co-writers/directors John Klein and Steve Kniss, you have to make a radical change to really set yourself free.
Never Not Yours is the kind of film I really enjoy because it's quieter in its messaging and sincere in its relationships. John Lister and Laura Fisher are both revelatory and deeply revealing as a couple who've been hiding their lack of happiness for far too long and are now seeing glimpses of something on the other side. Lister's Jonathan isn't a particularly sympathetic figure, though you can't help but feel it anyway as his aching need and bottled up rage seem to play ping-pong with each other. Laura Fisher's Maddie is different, though you can feel the emotions bubbling and the desire for something better beginning to rise.
And these three siblings?
While I found myself initially drawn to Angela Morris's Ellie, over time I found myself deeply drawn to both Michael and James. This film should be Josh Bywater's calling card, a wonderful tapestry of masked bravado, internal struggle, and rage reminiscent of that his father held in for far too long. We shouldn't be surprised, of course, that Timmy H. Barron's James will fool us and everyone around him as Barron slowly peels away the layers of a complex, misunderstood young man.
Never Not Yours is a lovely little film. It's not the kind of film you often see playing in a multiplex. That's a shame, because I'd dare say this is a story with which many could identify and universal in a myriad of ways. Klein's own lensing for the film amplifies the beauty of Brown County, Indiana. It's an area known for hilly greenery, antiques, and down home vibes. Filmed over a period of eight days, Klein and Kniss have crafted a film that feels like Indiana, feels like family, and feels like a film that deserves to find its appreciative audience.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
