A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: A Movie For All Of Humanity

After last year’s celebrated documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, children’s television host Fred Rogers has been brought back into the cultural zeitgeist. This year, audiences get a new take on Mister Rogers’ legacy with director Marielle Heller‘s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. 

Inspired by a 1998 Esquire article by Tom Junod, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood tells the story of a journalist named Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) whose cynical perspective on life is changed when he is assigned to profile Rogers (Tom Hanks).With a strong vision and a wonderful performance by Hanks, Heller creates a film that reflects the beautiful complexity of human beings.

Heller’s Vision

A story like this that is meant to be inspirational has the potential to be extremely hokey. Heller could have followed the beats of Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and made a passable, Oscar-baity Mister Rogers biopic. But she doesn’t do that. Rogers is a supporting character in the film, and a supportive member of Vogel’s life. At first, Vogel is reluctant to open up when Rogers shows interest in helping him. But it becomes clear that there is no separation between the character on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and the actual person. Heller doesn’t provide an exposé of Rogers or spoon feed us his niceties. It is through his relationship with Vogel we end up learning just how deep his care for people truly is, on and off-screen. There are times when some of the dialogue feels a bit formulaic, but the emotional impact of the story itself far outweighs that.

Heller also uses semi-surrealist techniques throughout the movie. Transitions from location to location are shown through the toy set of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. There are points when the fantasy of the show and Vogel’s reality come together in a way that expresses the goals Rogers always had; to teach children about the actualities of life in a way that didn’t take away their innocence. Her creativity elevates the movie from a wholesome story to a thought-provoking tale about remaining hopeful about life, even after you grow up.

Heller‘s previous films The Diary of A Teenage Girl and Can You Ever Forgive Me? already made her a director to watch, but this film firmly establishes her as one of the most interesting directors working in the film industry today.

The Magic of Tom Hanks

Who better to play the purest soul of all time than America’s Dad himself, Tom Hanks? As expected, he is utterly fantastic and delightful. Just as the film isn’t a biopic of Rogers, Hanks does not do an impression of him. Like another great performance this year, Renée Zellweger in Judy, he completely embodies Rogers’ mannerisms but totally brings his own energy to the role. He expresses the calm, caring personality of Mister Rogers, but through subtle facial expressions tells us so much about what he feels inside. Just hearing him sing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is sure to bring a tear to your eye. Best Supporting Actor is proving to be an awfully competitive category this year with front-runners Brad Pitt and Al Pacino, but it seems likely that this role will end Hanks’ 18 year streak without an Academy Award nomination.

Hanks is deserving of all of the praise he is receiving, but it is slightly overshadowing the performance of the lead, played by Matthew Rhys. Rhys’ character, like everyone in the world, is complex. He is plagued by his longtime disdain for his father (Chris Cooper) while trying to be a good father to his newborn son. His cynicism and unwillingness to change could have felt irritating, but Rhys’ emotional performance allows us to empathize with him, and more importantly gets us to root for him to get better.

The other supporting performances in the film deserve to be praised as well. Cooper at first appears as the standard alcoholic, absent father. But over time we learn that he is more than that. He is a man who feels regret and genuinely wants to reconnect with his son. Again, this is a character that we could struggle to sympathize with, but we do. Susan Kelechi Watson plays Andrea Vogel, Lloyd’s wife. Along with Rogers, she is sort of the moral center of the film. She brought both a strength and warmth to Lloyd’s pessimistic life, which she and Rhys play off of very well. While Rogers is what inspires Vogel to change, it is Andrea and their child that are his true motivation.

Mister Rogers: Not Just for Kids

One of the most profound moments in the film is an interaction between Vogel and Rogers’wife Joanne (Maryann Plunkett). He asks her what it is like being married to “a saint.” She replies that she doesn’t think of him in that way because, a.) he isn’t a saint, and b.) it promotes the idea that his way of viewing the world isn’t able to be adopted by others. This scene emphasizes the main message of the film, which itself is straight from Rogers’ teachings. Human beings are more than meets the eye. Everyone is special, everyone is unique, and everyone goes through their own difficulties. It is about how we deal with these difficulties that matters.

When Lloyd Vogel is given the assignment to profile Rogers, he rolls his eyes at the idea of writing about a children’s TV host as a legitimate hero. Those who are not aware of the impact that Rogers had on children may go into this film with a similar attitude. But if there is one thing that can be taken away from the movie, it’s that you’re never too old to become a better person. Vogel changes, his father changes, even Rogers continues to learn and grow. Whether you watch this film at age 10 or age 100, it will inspire you to look at your own life and how you treat those around you.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: Conclusion

In a world that seems more divisive and hopeless everyday, it’s rare to find something that is objectively good. Mister Rogershas always represented that, and so does this movie. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is a beautiful film that anyone and everyone could and should see.

What did you think of A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood? Let us know!

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood was released in in theaters in the U.S. on November 22, 2019 and will be released in theaters in the UK on January 31, 2020. For all international release dates, see here.