“Okay, just
walking into the room and sitting down the way you sometimes see at the top of
a documentary. Where they use the B-roll, but the person... the subject didn't
realize they were gonna use it. But it's all natural.”
This is how Will Ferrell starts Will
& Harper, and it is a quote that hits upon the biggest question I
always have while watching documentaries: Just how much authenticity, emotional
or otherwise, can be allowed in such a format when the subjects know that they
are being filmed? Doesn’t the very act of observation dilute the truthfulness
of the observations? This was what was on my mind when I first jumped
into Will & Harper, but this skeptical attitude melted just as
quickly as this hardened, world-weary heart of mine did, because this
particular documentary hits different. Beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious, and
important, Will & Harper, the story of a cross-country road
trip between two old Saturday Night Live buddies as they attempt to
recontextualize their friendship after one of them transitioned, just may be
the realest thing I have seen in years, cameras be damned.
Harper Steele, a former SNL writer
who began her tenure on the long-running sketch show at the same time as Will
Ferrell, transitioned fairly late in life after much strife and heartache, and
like many transgender people she was afraid of how her friends, family, and
America as a whole would treat her after she became who she had always been.
Ferrell, an open-minded guy who nonetheless still had some questions, suggested
the road trip idea to hash it all out. What follows is sometimes uncomfortable
(not everyone they come into contact with is as open minded or accepting as
Will Ferrell), often heart-breaking (Harper doesn’t mince words when it comes
to her mental health and identity struggles, both pre-transition and post), but
it is mostly just nice, for lack of a spicier word. True friendship knows no
gender, and these two people have friendship in spades.
Although serious in its subject
matter, Will & Harper also boasts plenty of laughs, which
is natural considering the comedic backgrounds of both of our subjects. These
lighter moments are welcome, and to the credit of our SNL alums (as
well as director Josh Greenbaum and editor Monique Zavistovski) these laughs
are never allowed to cheapen or minimize the serious moments; it would have
been easy to make jokes to lessen the sad, infuriating, or awkward parts, but
these are just as much part of Will & Harper as the joyful
ones. It is an important film for people who have transgender individuals in
their lives or just wish to understand the world better; as Harper says several
times, there is nothing wrong with asking questions, and we can't be afraid to
do so, no matter how uncomfortable asking these questions might make us.
When it comes to documentaries, it doesn’t
get any more real than Will & Harper.
Will & Harper is now
available on Netflix.
This review was first published in the Keizertimes
on October 4th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com
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