On the initial surface, Cooper Raiff‘s television series Hal & Harper appears to be a sibling drama about two children and their single father. And whilst that is the case in the most basic of manners, when the film presents its grown-up cast (Raiff as Hal and Lili Reinhart as Harper) as the seven-and-nine-year-old iterations of their characters at the younger points in their life – signalling how quickly they had to grow up – it becomes clear the show is aiming for something far more emotional, balancing its absurd humour with an exploration on grief and how it can shape us.
Across its 8 episode arc, Raiff (who has impressed in the actor-director-writer space across Shithouse and Cha Cha Real Smooth, the latter which similarly premiered at the Sundance Film Festival) weaves through time as the titular duo navigate their often messy lives, giving way to the contradictory fashion they both adhere to in how they have handled their respective childhoods. With only two years between them, Hal and Harper are closer than most, and their push and pull dynamic feels, at times, more like a marriage, one that’s rooted in both deep intimacy and resentment.
Raiff never laces the relationship with anything uncomfortable, there’s more a dependency issue – particularly on Hal’s end – and even in the early stages of the episodes, we can see Harper is trying hard to place a boundary between them, something easier said than done. Raiff, for his part, continues the fearlessness he’s expressed in his previous work by embodying a character that is unlikeable at times and flawed in a way that not all actors would be comfortable with playing. Harper, so beautifully played by Reinhart, harnesses a certain strength to offset Hal’s, for lack of a better word, weakness. It’s clear that between both Hal and her father (Mark Ruffalo, similarly delivering such lush, nuanced work), Harper has had to assume a caretaking role, something that has added to a level of exhaustion that she’s now finding a way to alleviate.
Despite the fact that Hal & Harper is playing with material that could have given way to a filmic format, there’s a true episodic nature to the way this show presents its narrative. With flashbacks that helps inform us of Hal and Harper’s journey, as well as taking the time in showing us the delicate nature of their passage as adults, it embraces the form that each episode needs its own space to breathe, as well as setting up what follows.
As beautiful and nuanced it is, Hal & Harper may also prove heavy and emotionally devastating for certain audiences who are expecting a more entertaining temperament. It’s a special show, without question, and hopefully there’s a network or streaming service ready to pick up the (still as of yet unsecured for distribution) series.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The first four episodes of Hal & Harper screened as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, which ran between January 23rd and February 2nd, 2025 in person, with all eight episodes available online for the public between January 30th and February 2nd. For more information head to the official Sundance page.
