Will and Harper (2924) NetFlix

Comedy writer Harper Steele and comedian Will Ferrell have been friends ever since they began working together on Saturday Night Live nearly 30 years ago. During the pandemic, Steele took Ferrell by surprise when she sent him an email telling him that she was transitioning. TRAILER

For viewers coming to this who believe they have never encountered any trans people, Will & Harper offers the chance to get to know Harper the individual as she tells Will that he can ask her anything he wants to know. Initially, he’s cautious about what he asks and how he phrases it. “There’s no ground rules between friends”, she reassures him, quickly allaying his fear that he might say the wrong thing. Is she a worse driver as a woman? Ferrell cheekily enquires at one point. It’s an exchange that sums up the closeness of their friendship, and the irreverent tone of the film that is filled with laugh-out-loud moments. And yes, trans people can take a joke—if it’s funny—and tell them too.

At its heart, this is a deeply moving tribute to friendship and to living our truths that just goes to show that if you are fortunate enough to have a true friend and laughter in your life you can’t go too far wrong. I savoured every beautiful moment of it. As we share Will and Harper’s life-affirming, joy-filled ride to look for America, my hope is for every LGBTQ+ person to have a friend like Will in their lives, a great model of how to be a demonstrable ally just by being there, being open, and really listening.

 

Still (2023)

 Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is an American documentary directed by David Guggenheim.  It covers the life of actor Michael J. Fox who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over 30 years ago in 1991. The film is 95 minutes long and can be viewed on Apple TV.

Still is moving, funny and clear-eyed.  It puts a human face behind the tag, “Parkinson’s.”  One does ask, however, is MJF a best case scenario in that he has the means to get the best medical care as well as unlimited occupational and physical therapy?

The Wikipedia entry on MJF has a good section his Parkinson’s disease trajectory.

We are curious to see how neurologists with a special interest in movement disorders view this film.

Tracy Pollan (wife), Fox, Davis Guggenheim
This photo appeared in The Seattle Times on Jan 23, 2003

 

Every Body

 This new documentary gets intimate with its subjects, from their birth records to their body parts. The film is about being intersex, an umbrella term for people who were born with anatomic or genetic characteristics that don’t match the typical definition of male or female.

 Trailer.  NY Times Review (July 2, 2023)

Also, see Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

I have not seen this yet but will when it comes to my area.  It's not available as streaming yet.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one’s body or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it. In BDD's delusional variant, the flaw is imagined. If the flaw is actual, its importance is severely exaggerated. In either case, thoughts about it are pervasive and intrusive, and may occupy several hours a day, causing distress and impairing one's otherwise normal activities. BDD is a somatoform disorder in the obsessive–compulsive spectrum.

Shaina Feinberg is a young filmmaker with BDD.  In her NY Times Opinion video she makes her condition public and examines it with honesty and a wry touch.

Dopesick

“Dopesick,” Hulu’s ambitious and compelling mini-series about the role of Purdue Pharma in the opioid crisis, is built around the theme of pain. Nearly every significant character, whether or not they’re taking Purdue’s best-selling drug OxyContin, is suffering.

NY Times Review.

A Matter of Fat

"This feature-length documentary follows a man as he sheds nearly half his body weight (63.5 kg) by complete starvation under hospital observation. The film explores what brought him to so desperate a course and catalogues what actions other overweight people are taking, singly or in groups, to reduce to healthier proportions. Medical authorities comment on some misconceptions and malpractices of the slimming industry."

 I first watched this in 1970 and it struck me as an important film.  I watched it again in 2023 and although it is dated, and found it fasscinating.  Recommended to anyone interested in the topic of obesity. DJE

A Matter of Fat.  1 hr and 38 minutes.  National Film Board of Canada, 1969

The Bleeding Edge

This was a sobering documentary about the medical device industry.  The book, The Dangers Within, by Jeanne Lenzer is an important companion piece.  It is well-worth watching.

In The Bleeding Edge (2018), Academy Award-nominated investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering turn their sights on the $400 billion medical device industry; examining lax regulations, corporate cover-ups, and profit-driven incentives that put patients at risk daily. Weaving emotionally powerful stories of people whose lives have been irrevocably harmed, it asks: What lifesaving technologies may actually be killing us? It explores Bayer's permanent birth control device Essure, vaginal mesh, the Da Vinci Surgical System, and chrome-cobalt hip-replacements.