It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Americans are greedy, ignorant, and unimaginably cruel. we can be. History has proven that over and over again. But this country is filled with so many people and identities that I feel like we sometimes forget that we are more than the sum of our failures.
Josh Greenbaum documentary Will & Harper This is not about the complex personalities that make up a nation, although that is the basis of this documentary. It’s also a tender depiction of the pain of being a closeted trans woman and the ecstasy of finally being able to live your best life. The title Will and Harper refers to Will Ferrell and his SNL alumnus, comedic partner and friend Harper Steele. They travel across the country together, exploring their own friendships along the way.
For Harper, it’s a chance to see her country through fresh eyes: her own. Traveling the side streets and highways, she and Will absorb the working class side of Hollywood and reluctantly stop in Las Vegas. Most of all, this is a chance for Harper to step out into the world as herself, with one of her closest friends.
Greenbaum does a great job of keeping us updated on Will and Harper before they begin their road trip. It turns out that just like Andrew, Harper also loved traveling around the country on road trips and hitchhiking. Andrew loved visiting dive bars, truck stops, and run-down, dirty diners that weren’t featured in the Triple A Travel Guide. Harper still loves doing it, but doesn’t feel safe going to the same places as women.
Mr. Ferrell was happy to come along for the ride and act as her buffer and safety. Soon, it turned into a road trip documentary with Rosenbaum and Zoe White’s camera acting like a fly on the wall. The result is a feel-good exploration of friendship and an opportunity for Harper to reflect on her life with a dear friend.
Ferrell holds his mug toward the camera, but Rosenbaum filmed Ferrell with his guard down. intention & harper Pleasant surprise. In addition to this, as the road trip progresses, Will learns how long Harper has been a behind-the-scenes presence. Later in the documentary, Harper confesses to Will that when he went on a road trip in the past, he dressed up as Harper in the car. They wore clothing designed to help them change quickly in case they needed to get gas, go to the bathroom, or were pulled over by a police officer.
The most attractive thing is Will & Harpr hears details of her journey from Harper and watches her open up to her dear friend. Will and Harper are two completely different people. Harper is not as outgoing as Will, but they are on the same wavelength together. She got Will, Will got her, and you can see how the two of them made such a great writing team.
Anyone with basic media literacy would wonder to some degree how authentic some of these scenes were. For example, when Harper goes into a dive bar alone in Meeker, Oklahoma, and Will waits outside. It’s not just about people knowing they’re being filmed, there’s also the question of how much was explained to them before filming began. In other words, were we told this was for a documentary with Will Ferrell, or were we told that Will Ferrell was going to be stopping by?
These are not special questions Will and Harper But the answer could affect the truth of how Harper was treated. After all, people always behave better when a celebrity drops by with a film crew. Still, these people weren’t ashamed of the “Fuck Biden” flag hanging on the bar, so perhaps their friendly reactions and congratulations to Harper were genuine. Particularly in the scene where Harper talks to a local man at a stock car race, who doesn’t seem to care about Harper’s transgender status at all.
Compare this to the scene in Texas, where Ferrell admitted he could have handled it better. The two go to a steakhouse, where Ferrell takes on one of the local challenges while dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. Steak in 1 hour. Harper sat with him at the table, all eyes on him, clearly uncomfortable. In person, patrons were respectful, but online they were just as bigoted and cruel as you would probably imagine.
In a sense, Will & Harper This is an attempt to bring up a topic that seems to be problematic for the American psyche. The question is how to deal with transness. The answer, like most things, is love. Harper completely entrusts Will with asking him whatever he wants because he knows “it comes from love.” When Will makes a joke about Harper’s breasts, it’s funny because they know each other.
Transness is nothing new, and while many stories share similarities, each is tender and personal. Will is visibly shaken as he listens to Harper detail her suicidal thoughts. He realized how much his friend was suffering, but he couldn’t see it. At one point, Harper tells Will why he never owned a gun. She was afraid of giving in to her urges.
Rosenbaum kept the visuals simple, preferring to depict Will and Haper joking and communicating in a stripped-down natural environment. Rosenbaum admits that despite her frequent nude appearances, she is very reserved and rarely feels comfortable, so Rosenbaum took the chance to catch Ferrell with his guard down. I’ll give it. But he does it because, as a comedian and a performer, he has no choice but to do it.
It’s these little moments between Will and Harper that make Will and Harper such a nice little movie. Rosenbaum and White capture scenes of the American countryside and cityscapes, but never lose sight of the real draw: Will and Harper’s friendship. As our country leans towards authoritarianism, it is easy to get lost in a cloud of anger. But it’s nice to be reminded that while we’re not perfect, we’re not lost yet.
Image provided by: Netflix
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