A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD - SONY
Continuing the recent resurgence in the popularity of Mr Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood focuses not just on how big of an impact Mr Rogers had on children with his hit television show but on how much his level-headed kindness and understanding can affect other adults around him.
Mr Rogers is someone that so many grew up within the U.S. and still love to this day. It is clear that with this film, director Marielle Heller is writing a love letter to the icon and how impactful he was to the children watching the show and how he continues to nearly 18 years since the program stopped airing. Structuring the film like an episode of Mr Rogers Neighborhood, the film from the very start is designed to pull on the heartstrings of nostalgia that the audience carries around from their time as children watching said show and growing up with it.
Like an episode of Mr Rogers Neighborhood, this film is built around trying to explore a central theme that can be boiled down to forgiveness. While the nostalgia of the film’s structure and iconic elements such as the television sets and the likeness of Mr Rogers himself is effective, it is in this exploration of forgiveness that the film reaches its strongest emotions.
The mileage will vary from viewer to viewer depending on how each individual can relate to the deep turmoil the main character Llyod (Matthew Rhys) is battling in his personal life. If the audience can connect, this will be a profoundly emotional, powerful and possibly therapeutic experience. That being said, for a movie advertising itself as a Mr Rogers biopic, the film has shockingly little to say about his own life. Just like the real article featured in the film and that the movie itself is based on Can You Say...Hero? by Tom Junod, this is not really about Fred Rogers but instead is an exploration of the impact that his level of kindness can have on the world.
Out of all the technical elements within the film, it is the production design by Jade Healy that stands out the most. Not only does the film recreate the iconic sets used in Mr Rogers Neighborhood but it builds plenty of new sets in the same style, blending the old and the new flawlessly.
From the nostalgia felt being transported back to Mr Rogers Neighborhood to the emotional connection one might have with the struggles Lloyd is facing, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood lays a solid foundation for a powerful and moving experience but it requires an audience with personal connective history with these topics to truly build something notable. Without that fuel from the audience, the film feels empty otherwise. It is a meditation on kindness and forgiveness that never really reaches a simple thesis or idea the universal audience can easily take away from the film. If an audience member lacks a connection to the ideas being brought up, the film quickly could come across devoid of any real substance or purpose.
Past the plot, the film has some wonderful elements to it. A major one being the performance and inclusion of Academy Award winner Tom Hanks. When an actor like Hanks becomes so prominent and respected on name value alone, it is easy to forget how talented and versatile someone of his calibre is; his portrayal of Mr Rogers is genuinely incredible. Hanks not only does a great job capturing Rogers's mannerisms and unique tone of voice but transforms into the character, wholly capturing his soul and inner spirit. Hanks carries such a strong screen presence throughout the film, no matter what his role in a scene is the viewer can feel his demeanour and sway every time he is on screen.
The only aspect of this film to feel occasionally off from a quality perspective would be the performance by Matthew Rhys. When trying to show the inner conflict and anger his character Llyod is going through, there are points where the performance Rhys is giving comes across as far too forced, feeling unnatural rather than sincere and realistic. The detriment is, ironically enough, the performance of Hanks — who is giving one of the best performances of the year — overshadows what Rhys can muster to the role.
If there is one film this year that is going to leave one audience member feeling a sense of emotional captivation and the other devoid of emotional response, it is going to be A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. So much of this film is only half a conversation that the audience is required to engage with using their own ideas and memories. Overall, it is a movie with strong filmmaking, good intentions and one of the best performances of the year from Tom Hanks but in order to reach that more profound level of an affectionate connection to where this film might become a real classic, it requires something that many will just not be able to bring to the fold due to their lacking knowledge of the titular property.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is released November 22nd 2019 in the U.S. and January 31st 2020 in the U.K.
