Last year I saw Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and I honestly think it’s a shame that it didn’t win the Oscar for best picture, let alone receive any form of nomination. With that in mind, I had high hopes for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I’d say this is a good film, but it has a different tone and focus from what I expected. The film itself is about the real events of Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) and how he came to know Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) in a difficult time in Lloyd’s life. There is almost a magical or mythical presence to Mr. Rogers which does come through amidst Lloyd’s troubles.
The film starts like an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers sits down and shows us a picture board where he reveals a picture of Lloyd Vogel. He talks about how Lloyd got injured because he couldn’t forgive someone in his life. Mr. Rogers talks about how forgiveness can be very hard as it’s hard to know what to do with the anger we feel. We then transition through a toy set (like on the tv show) to Lloyd’s life.
We see Lloyd talking to his wife Andrea Vogel (Susan Kelechi Watson) about going to Lloyd’s sister’s third wedding. Lloyd learns his father Jerry (Chris Cooper) will be there and isn’t happy about it. At the wedding Jerry tried to confront Lloyd about their past and Lloyd ends up hitting him. Lloyd shoves and is then hit back by someone breaking up the fight. Lloyd goes into work the next day and lies about his injury to everyone saying it was from “softball.” Lloyd gets assigned to a piece about Mr. Rogers despite his objections. Lloyd gets to the set at his assigned time, only to learn the show is behind schedule again as Fred Rogers is spending time with a sick child. Lloyd eventually gets a chance to talk to Fred Rogers where Rogers asks Lloyd some questions as well, like what really happened to his nose.
The movie overall is a journey from Lloyd’s own cynicism to the bright disposition Fred Rogers seems to spread around himself. Lloyd does see though that Rogers is a genuine human who tries to do his best. The story is told in a rather creative fashion so that it feels that the entire film is taking part within a special episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I think Tom Hanks does a fantastic job portraying Mr. Rogers. I will say though that last year’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor would at very least be a good companion piece to watch alongside this one as I think it helped better explore the life of Fred Rogers and explains the puppets a bit better. Overall this is an enjoyable film, with some darker topics than I was expecting. Rated PG.
Ryan
Read it or Weep 