Family knows the best ways to love, but they also know the best ways to hurt. In Never Not Yours, directors John Klein and Steve Kniss utilize the idea to present a family in crisis. Or perhaps, like most families, there was always a crisis unfolding, but nobody wanted to acknowledge it. Though large parts of the film will feel familiar and, at times, predictable, Klein and Kniss know how to dig into the roots of the characters they’ve crafted, and that goes a long way in making the film enjoyable.

Never Not Yours concerns a family that could easily be found anywhere: a mother, Maddie (Laura T. Fisher), a father, Jonathan (John Lister), and their three adult children. When the kids are called to their parents’ longtime home with no pretense or expectations, they naturally begin to speculate about what could be so important. But before we learn why, we get to know each of the kids, their longstanding inside jokes/rituals, and their quirks.

First, there’s Michael (Josh Bywater), the most successful of the bunch, in the traditional sense; he’s got a steady corporate job, and a wife and two young boys of his own. There’s Ellie (Angela Morris), the artistic daughter who has had her share of heartbreaks recently. And there’s James (Timmy Hart Barron), the slacker son who has neither a reliable job or relationship, but finds ways to be happy nevertheless. Never Not Yours works best when Klein and Kniss (who also wrote the screenplay) simply let their characters loose and bounce off of one another. There’s an authenticity to be found within this family that isn’t easily replicated, as if we’re not just watching actors enact a script, but eavesdropping on a real family going through a difficult patch.

The film proper kicks in once Maddie and Jonathan reveal their true motivations for bringing the kids back home: they’ve sold their home and have divorced one another. Michael takes the news the worst initially, but none of the kids receive it in stride. Sure, in some ways, this rings a little contrived, as if Klein and Kniss inserted conflict for the sake of having conflict. But then I started to consider how I myself would react if my own parents (also married for over 30 years) were going through the same situation, and that’s the magic trick of Never Not Yours.

Whether your home life resembles anything like what’s on display, or it’s completely foreign to you, there’s enough to identify within Klein and Kniss’s film to warrant a watch. Even if Never Not Yours doesn’t break new ground for family dramas or independent cinema, it’s an engrossing look at relationships and how some bonds can never truly be broken.

Never Not Yours was screened as part of the 2025 Indy Film Fest. Buy virtual and in-person tickets here.