Review by
Musanna Ahmed
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris
Cooper, Christine Lahti
Marielle Heller can't be commended enough for unlocking the key to
making a great Mister Rogers feature pic, especially after the legendary
creator of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was comprehensively profiled
for Morgan Neville's popularly and critically acclaimed documentary
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
For Heller, the key to avoiding embellishing her subject's life and making
a film that doesn't have any conflict at the centre - Fred Rogers is maybe
the only celebrity in recorded history who doesn't have so much as a bone in
his closet - is to make it deeply personal from a perspective outside of the
subject's own. We explore Rogers' persona through Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), who's based on Tom Junod, a cynical journalist who was assigned to
profile the icon for Esquire and found himself greatly affected by the
encounter in the best way possible. The arc of positive self-reflection is
hardly fresh - it even kind of happened to Emma Thompson's Ms Travers when
Tom Hanks played Walt Disney in
Saving Mr Banks
- but it's rarely done with such grace, wit and nuance as here.
Lloyd, angry with his father Jerry (played by the mighty Chris Cooper) following his mother's death, only finds solace at home with his newborn child and wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson). The "hokey kid's show host" is a fairly foreign entity to him but Andrea loves Mister Rogers and tells her partner, "don't hurt my childhood" after he agrees to do the piece. Lloyd's editor Ellen (Christine Lahti) tells him that Fred Rogers is the only subject who's agreed to do an interview with Lloyd for the magazine's series of celebrity heroes, due to Lloyd's reputation as short-tempered and aggressive.
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Rhys' character, despite his little acquaintance with Mister Rogers' work,
is far from a mere surrogate for the audience. I hope that Heller doesn't
choose to do an ensemble film anytime soon because, as demonstrated in her
previous films
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
and
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, she's powerful at wielding a few core characters to a great extent,
fleshing each of them out with such personality and agency that may not be
afforded if there were too many characters to take care of.
With UK/ROI audiences, the inherent emotional attachment to the character may not be there, and we might even be skeptical considering the horrible bastards that were Rogers' British contemporaries. But the casting of the famously nice Tom Hanks is perfect for us, not only for the actor's globally renowned reputation but for his supreme talents as he imbues his take on Fred Rogers with sensitivity above sainthood. Hanks naturally sympathises with the viewpoint that putting people on a pedestal risks dehumanisation, so there's some meta-reading to be done in his humble teachings that we all make mistakes. Our capacity for healing and forgiveness is far greater. It certainly helped me forgive Hanks for The Circle, and I'm rooting for his deeply magnanimous performance here to receive the credit it deserves this awards season.
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Awards aren't the point of this biopic, though, for Heller is far too
creative to phone it in while her star performs to his best. In addition to
her aforementioned excellent character work, she successfully experiments
with a fresher storytelling framework, beginning with a stunning opening
sequence that blurs the line between a recreation of
Mister Rogers Neighborhood and a metatextual introduction to the
theme of her film. She utilises the toy world from the TV show's set for
establishing shots to blur the lines further, leading to a wonderfully
heartfelt, therapeutic scene wherein Vogel finds himself dreaming inside of
the toys with Rogers' fictional puppets responding to his
existentialism.
Perhaps the greatest moment of her indistinct merger of third-person biography and tête-à-tête communication with the audience is a beautiful moment for a minute's silence. It unfolds so effortlessly that writing about it can't accurately reflect the deeply personal reaction you have to it. Whether you know a little or a lot about Mister Rogers, there's nothing that will prepare you for the emotional experience in this neighbourhood, as the director makes it feel like catharsis made just for you, getting you to consider your own relationships with the people in your life and the strength of your kindness.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is on Netflix UK/ROI now.