It's unfortunate, then, that Hepburn is unable to keep the movie on track for it to fulfil the potential that is clearly there.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2021

Kathleen Hepburn makes her debut with Never Steady, Never Still, and her skill behind the camera is evident as she captures the Canadian landscape with beautiful delicacy. However, the film falls apart in its subject matter

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2019

Kathleen Hepburn's film is spellbindingly beautiful, though its vistas are desolate; a visual strain of unsentimentality which weaves its way into the story.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 28, 2018

Raw power lies in the small moments that layer on top of one another in an uncommonly unflinching directorial style that marks Hepburn out as a filmmaker of great potential.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 8, 2018

The long gestation period shows: every scene in Never Steady, Never Still feels focused and intentional, like someone has agonized over how to most directly and honestly express the characters' inner states.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Sep 5, 2018

If you don't treat yourself to this movie, you will indeed be missing out on one of the best pieces of acting 2018 cinema has to offer.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 24, 2018

Hepburn doesn't demand that her characters conform to norms of sacrifice and redemption, preferring to follow Jamie and Judy's meandering, unhurried journey to cognizance and mutual appreciation.

| Jun 22, 2018

Bleak but sometimes beautiful, the performance-driven feature debut is meatier than its slender plot might suggest, with a strong sense of place and an unsentimental frankness about conditions many filmmakers would milk for sympathy.

| Jun 22, 2018

Self-consciously sad to an almost obnoxious degree, despite the dedicated work of a wonderful cast.

| Jun 22, 2018

The film becomes a journey of trials and tribulations with as much inspirational grace as crippling resentment. For every kindness comes an explosion of rage or embarrassment.

| Original Score: B | Jun 20, 2018

Henderson completely immerses herself in the character, emerging with a striking performance that gives Hepburn support to create an unusual examination of frustration in the wilds of Canada.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 20, 2018

Like the remote and frequently challenging terrain, Never Steady, Never Still has a sublime, hypnotic gravitas.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2018

There's not enough artistic merit in Kathleen Hepburn's film to make all its dourness worthwhile, but Henderson is excellent, and the scenes describing simple moments of compassion are poignant.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2018

It's subtle and effective and the performances are understated but excellent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2018

A melancholy family drama in which Shirley Henderson delicately captures the warm heart and fortitude of her utterly believable character.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 22, 2018

It offers a sensitive, insightful portrayal of how this debilitating disease affects both the sufferer and the people around them.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 20, 2018

It is plaintive and subdued, with a dual narrative focus that is not as satisfyingly developed or resolved as it might be.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 20, 2018

Enervating stuff.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 19, 2018

You'll root for Hepburn's characters to lift themselves out of troubled places, and with good reason; they're stronger than they at first seem, and more resilient than they give themselves credit for.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 2, 2018

It's rather bleak but the camera work is exceptional, the pace languorous and Hepburn's screenplay deliberately ambiguous.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 1, 2018