Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys star in TriStar Pictures’ ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’. Photo Credit: Lacey Terrell
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Written by: Micah Fisteman-Blue and Noah Harpster
Based on: “Can You Say… Hero?” by Tom Junod
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper, Enrico Colantoni, Maryann Plunkett
As Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” unfolded in front of me, it was difficult not to compare my own childhood experience of seeing Fred Rogers appearing on the television, talking directly to me.
I get misty eyed just thinking about it.
Tom Hanks’s nearly pitch-perfect performance has something to do with my misty eyes. However, it is the way Ms. Heller used the script from Micah Fitzeman-Blue and Noah Harpster to define the well-nuanced layers of the story.
More importantly, their script and Ms. Heller’s treatment of the script relies on the audience being open to what the film’s message is truly about, which is to say that Fred Rogers is telling Lloyd Vogel’s (Matthew Rhys) story as if it were another of the 895 episodes that Rogers produced between 1968 and 2001. The film opens to Vogel giving yet another award-winning speech, laced with sarcasm, but we can tell from the onset that there is a lot of pain.
The film is set in 1998 and follows the cynical Vogel, who at the time was writing for Esquire Magazine when he was asked to do a profile on Mr. Rogers. There’s a scene early in the film in which Vogel is sitting in his editors’ office and she reminds him why this assignment is being pushed in his direction. It’s a darkly humorous moment which begins a journey of change.
When Mr. Rogers and Lloyd first meet, there’s a playful banter between he and Lloyd; sitting just off the set, Lloyd begins a series of questions, but the focal point is the bandage across Lloyd’s nasal bridge. Within that moment, something brilliant happens as their conversation reaches through the cinema screen with that endearing trait that Mr. Rogers was known for – his ability to get people comfortable enough to open up.
Ms. Heller also buoys that sequence with Lloyd’s arrival on set – a child who is suffering is willful and disrespectful as his parents try to get him to calm down. While the parents scramble to control their child, Lloyd is having a conversation with Bill Isler (Enrico Colantoni), the President & CEO of Family Communications, Fred Rogers’s production company. Isler comments on the quality of Vogel’s articles, saying that he had Rogers read every article they could find written by Vogel and that Vogel was someone who Rogers loved to work with. Incredulously, Vogel asks Isler, “why, because I’m broken?”
The story’s conflict is one of family; a distanced father, Jerry played by Chris Cooper and an isolated, but understanding wife in Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson) along with a son, Gavin. It is also about perspective and that’s something that Rogers thrived on – changing perspectives through gentle probing questions. There is never malicious intent in their interactions.
This thesis is supported through a scene about midway through the movie where, following a traumatic argument with his dad, Lloyd returns to Mr. Rogers as a way of escape. They meet in an Asian restaurant and through their conversation, Lloyd admits to certain things. Mr. Rogers asks Lloyd to take a moment of silence, seeking out all the people who love him. The low hush of dishes clattering in the kitchen and other diners’ conversations comes to a halt; the passersby outside the restaurant and the traffic just completely stop. It’s a moment of pure serenity as just a simple exercise and taking a moment to stop and realize just how much support we all really have was amazing.
As I think about it, Hanks flourished in bringing his own iconic mannerisms to another icon while keeping within the boundaries of who Fred Rogers was. Rhys had a conviction about himself that his cynic side was his driving force. There was a stoic side to him, but he always had a twinkle about him as if he was ready to laugh.
There’s a natural symmetry and flow to the story. Nothing ever really feels forced about the way Hanks portrays Rogers. In fact, the primary method of Rogers’s outlets for his anger and rage, for which he was known for having a temper, is beautifully contrasted with the opening outlet for Lloyd.
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” does not pander. It doesn’t suggest that change can happen immediately; that the change within ourselves is a constant battle. But, given the circumstances of the story, the speed with which that change happens quickens in the second half of the film and I think that pace weakens the film just slightly.
One might be inclined to think that change isn’t possible, that we’ve gone down a dark path and that we can’t change our ways. The world thrives on failure and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” reminds us that we are each of us, special in our own unique way and that we can be loved just for who we are.
3 out of 4 stars
