"Will & Harper" and "Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape [Fantastic Fest Coverage]
Documentaries and non-fiction events are always an important part of Fantastic Fest. Here’s a look at two noteworthy entries from the 2024 edition of the festival.
Will & Harper - During the Covid isolation period, comedian Will Ferrell received an email from his longtime friend and Saturday Night Live writing partner Andrew Steele. In the message, Steele came out as a trans woman, now named Harper. Wanting to be supportive but unsure if or how their friendship would be changed, Ferrell suggested they take a cross-country road trip together. Cameras tagged along, leading to this enlightening, often hilarious tribute to the unbreakable bond friends can form.
The two quickly realize that not much is different on the surface. They feed off each other comedically and enjoy reminiscing about old times. As the trek goes on and they encounter transphobia, a deeper dynamic emerges. Will realizes why it’s important to be an ally, while Harper finds new appreciation for her pal’s nonjudgmental support. Will & Harper contains moments that are riotously funny and others that are heartbreaking, most notably a stopover at the remote house Harper bought with the intention of living as a woman, far away from society. Another scene, where the two have dinner in a Midwest steakhouse and are not enthusiastically greeted, helps drive home the immediate scorn trans people unfairly face. This Netflix release is one of the year’s best documentaries, as well as a picture that could help generate empathy toward the trans community.
Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape - As the title implies, this isn’t so much a proper film as it is a collection of videos from a popular YouTube channel. Creator/host Kati Kelli recorded herself in her childhood bedroom. She played various characters and used absurdist humor to touch on a variety of topics, from sexuality to anxiety/depression. Weird edits, graphics, sound effects, and transitions gave her videos an obsessively watchable quality. Dolls and other toys were used as props for her distinct brand of comedy, wherein the less direct sense something made, the funnier it was.
Kelli tragically died in 2019 from a severe asthma attack. This mixtape was assembled by her widower, Jordan Wippell, and filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow fame. It’s a loving tribute to Kati Kelli’s creative spirit and her trailblazing use of the online video format. At the end is a short film she made just days prior to her death. It’s clear she had tons more creativity left to share with the world.
© 2024 Mike McGranaghan