By Vincent Abbatecola
One of the best documentaries of last year came to us from Morgan Neville with “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Detailing the life of iconic television personality Mister Rogers, Neville explored his life in front of and behind the TV cameras as Rogers’ did everything that he could to provide hope to all of his viewers and always implore the importance of kindness. Given how much animosity there is between many groups of people these days, Mister Rogers’ quest to find the goodness in people is as timely as ever.
We now have a film that focuses on a one particular chapter of his life, but one that resonates as much as the whole of what we saw in Neville’s documentary. Director Marielle Heller offers a loving tribute to Mister Rogers with her drama, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a film that will sweep you away in its warmth and inspiration.
The story follows Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a journalist for the magazine “Esquire.” His latest assignment is to write a profile on Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) for an issue about heroes. As the two begin to talk more with each other, Fred will encourage Lloyd to build the emotional strength to confront personal issues.
Hanks is the perfect embodiment of Mister Rogers, both in personality and everything for which he stood. While Rogers’complexities aren’t made explicit, there are moments where Hanks is able to subtly convey the feelings that his character still experiences over the troubles that he had when he was younger, such as in one scene where he performs with one of his puppets, Daniel Tiger. This is a performance where Hanks instills the belief there’s a great deal of goodness in the world, if you know how to look for it. Hanks brings to beautiful life the heart of gold that Fred Rogers possessed, showing a man who did his best to help fix the world and assist people in understanding it a little bit more.
Rhys provides a rich performance of someone who must come to terms with his troubles. With the help of Mister Rogers, we see Rhys bring out his character’s moments of clarity as he begins to comprehend how he can fix the broken relationship with his father. As Lloyd goes through these changes, Rhys displays how difficult it is for his character to heal his personal strains and that he’s in desperate need of the advice that Rogers’ gives him, making it easy to connect with Lloyd as we’re reminded of the times where we might have needed someone to help us to make sense of the challenging times in our own lives.
The screenplay by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (who also plays Lloyd’s brother-in-law), which is based on journalist Tom Junod’s “Esquire” article, “Can You Say…Hero?,” doesn’t go for a full-on biographical approach to the life of Fred Rogers, but is instead a look at the impact that he had on one person in particular. With the extended interactions that Lloyd and Mister Rogers have, we feel the impact that the latter’s words have on the former as the two come to understand each other. While we have several scenes between Lloyd and Fred Rogers, most of the movie deals with how Lloyd handles family problems with the advice that he’s given from Mister Rogers.
The narrative is framed in such a way that it feels like you’re watching a feature-length episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Mister Rogers addresses us a few times throughout the film, such as in the opening scene where he mentions that we’re about the meet Lloyd, and then he addressing us at the end to tell us where Lloyd’s life has taken him after the events of the film. Telling the story in this format allows us to remember how it felt to have Mister Rogers speak to us during his show, to provide us with reassurance during difficult times, and to have us know that he’s in tune to whatever we’re feeling. There’s also something extra with this style of the narrative, which is that many of the establishing shots are shown as miniature sets, which are similar to what could be seen on Mister Rogers’ show.
Heller, who directed last year’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” where she focused on the true story of a celebrity biographer, once again goes into the life of a writer who encounters a famous individual for his story. While it would be easy for a movie about Mister Rogers to go for easy pulls of the heartstrings, Heller is able to get you misty-eyed without resorting to cheap sentimentality. Whenever Lloyd and Fred have deep conversations, Heller doesn’t use much music to help get our emotions going, but instead has the two characters converse in quiet environments to make the dialogue between them have more of an impact on the viewer as you take in what they’re saying.
This approach is also used early in the film in a scene where Lloyd is observing Mister Rogers, during his first trip to the studio where Mister Rogers films his show. As Lloyd walks in, Mister Rogers is meeting with a young boy who’s ill, and Lloyd watches the two as they interact. It’s one of the most emotional scenes in the movie, but it’s so downplayed that it becomes even more effective. The scene is shown from Lloyd’s point-of-view as the sequence plays out matter-of-factly, simply showing that this is who Mister Rogers is on a daily basis. This sentiment is reflected in a later scene where Fred Rogers’ wife, Joanne (Maryann Plunkett), tells Lloyd that even though people have referred to her husband as a saint, he doesn’t like to be called that because it makes it seem as though his kindheartedness is impossible for others to emulate. This shows that he wants to inspire others to be the best person that they can be.
That scene, along with those where Fred and Lloyd have therapeutic conversations, or when Lloyd is observing Fred Rogers as he’s taping the show, has Heller using cinematography from Jody Lee Lipes to offer many point-of-view shots that invite us to see how these two characters are experiencing these interactions. This helps to involve the audience in the growing relationship between Fred and Lloyd as their perceptions about each other begin to change.
As you watch “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” you will see that it’s a strong reminder of how doing good things for others is always important, making this movie too much of a good thing to miss.