WILL & HARPER*****

Director Josh Greenbaum (STRAYS) has crafted a deeply humane, insightful and beautiful documentary about courage and ally-ship in WILL & HARPER. It stars Hollywood comedian Will Ferrell going on a road trip with his friend of many decades, newly out as a Trans Woman, Harper Steele.  The beauty of this film is that it allows us to ask all those uncomfortable awkward questions we don't know how to ask: how bad did it get for you before you were out? Will our friendship change? How do you feel about surgery? How do you feel about your body? There is so much evident love between the two friends that these questions can be broached with sensitivity and love.

We also see the two Americas, but have our prejudices challenged too.  We start at  dinner in liberal New York with many of Harper's old SNL colleagues showing love and support. As we cross over into red states we are surprised to find a warm greeting at a car rally. Less surprised to see the mood at a steak eating contest turn genuinely menacing. It's interesting to see how Ferrell tries to throw attention away from Harper and onto himself, but how that buffoonery can backfire. 

The result is a film that is by turns funny and touching and depressing and scary, which is maybe how trans people experience life. It left me with deep admiration for Harper in sharing her experience in this way, and for Will Ferrell to commit to a project that will undoubtedly help educate and hopefully bring some support to the trans community. Highly recommended.

WILL & HARPER is rated R and has a running time of 114 minutes. It played Sundance and Telluride 2024 and is on Netflix.

PRINCESS CYD - BFI London Film Festival 2017 Preview

Stephen Cone's PRINCESS CYD is a slow paced and quietly beautiful love story on two levels. The protagonist is a 16 year old survivor of an unexplained childhood tragedy that killed her mother. Years later her struggling father sends Cyd to Chicago to stay with her aunt for a few weeks in her mother's old family home.  At first they have nothing in common.  The aunt, Miranda, is a famous author who lives by her intellect and is introspective. By contrast, Cyd is uninterested in books and mostly wants to sunbathe and flirt with a girl, Katie, from the local coffee shop.  Cyd's criticism of her aunt's lifetime result in a plea for tolerance, and soon time and slow adjustments do their work.  In the end, the movie becomes a love story between Cyd and Katie, but also between Cyd and her Aunt - who forge a strong familial tie as important as the fledgling love affair. All three women end up stronger and happier for their connection, and the young girls finally appreciate the power of the written word to transform lives, just as the aunt appreciates the joy of living in the moment.  

The performances are good across the board and the rest of the production workmanlike.  But I have to say that I struggled with the film, especially in its first two thirds. It felt too slow, too dull, too obvious.  The movie went exactly where I thought it would and the epiphanies were as predicted. The weirdest part is that you never really feel that Cyd or her aunt are living in the aftermath of a family tragedy. And when the writer introduces a pretty shady and dangerous plot involving Katie, it also feels like it has no consequences. Overall, this movie has some worthwhile aspects to it, but is ultimately a pretty dull watch.

PRINCESS CYD is playing the BFI London Film Festival 2017.  There are tickets available for both screenings.  It will be released on the internet in the USA on December 5th.