A
BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHood
****
Director: Marielle Heller
Screenwriters: Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, inspired by the Esquire magazine article Can You Say… Hero by Tom Junod.
Principal cast:
Tom Hanks
Matthew Rhys
Chris Cooper
Susan Kelechi Watson
Maryann Plunkett
Enrico Colantoni
Country: USA/China
Classification: PG
Runtime: 109 mins.
Australian release date: 23 January 2020.
In Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood [sic], we are introduced to an extraordinary character who graced TV screens in the USA for decades, Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). He created and hosted a highly popular children’s show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, that ran on public television for 33 years, from 1968 to 2001, and is remembered fondly to this day by people all over the States. His honest and open style of presentation covered emotional and philosophical issues like coping with death and divorce, sibling rivalry, attending school and the nuances of friendship, and so on, which had a great impact on kids and which they often didn’t learn from ‘mom and pop.’ Basically, he taught his young viewers how to behave ethically and responsibly. His success was widely recognised by his peers and he received many awards and honorary degrees for his pioneering work.
The film is not only about Rogers, though - his story is revealed through the eyes of a cynical journalist who writes for Esquire magazine, Lloyd Vogel (Welsh actor Matthew Rhys), who is given the task of interviewing the entertainer for a 400-word piece on heroes. Vogel is at first utterly unconvinced by Rogers as he is used to exposing his subjects, revealing people’s flaws, foibles and falsities. He can’t accept that this man is as good and kind as he appears, assuming that his on-air persona must be a construction. As the pair gets to know one another, we learn that Vogel has a fractured relationship with his father Jerry (Chris Cooper), and has been estranged from him for years. At a crucial meeting, Rogers looks at us (the camera), and asks us, via the off-screen journo, to think about “all the people who have loved us into being.” When Vogel accepts the wisdom of Roger’s home-spun philosophy on life, he realises that his pessimistic attitude has been keeping him from fully embracing his relationships with his loved ones and he embraces Rogers’ aphorism that, “Anything mentionable is manageable.”
In one sense, the distributors were quite optimistic bringing this film to an international audience because, although Rogers is familiar to most Americans, he is virtually unknown everywhere else, so they’re obviously banking on the star power of Mr. Hanks. Also, they are probably hoping that, given the current negative political and environmental global climate, A Beautiful Day’s strong message of positivity will strike a chord with audiences. Rogers was not just a very kind person, he also showed respect and concern for his fellow human beings - rare in today’s neo-conservative, every-man-for-himself society - and he made a point of sharing his principles with everyone he came in contact with. At times, his saccharine manner seems a bit creepy, but that’s probably only because his brand of ‘niceness’ is so unusual today.
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is a visual and aural delight, especially the Neighborhood of Make-Believe sets from the TV show, which are captured in bright colours and complemented by Mister Roger’s upbeat on-air attire (his cardigans were apparently knitted by his mother). The director’s brother, Nate Heller, composed the whimsical soundtrack, which evokes the period well. Hanks does a masterful job of displaying the old-fashioned values that Roger’s promoted. He has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Academy Awards and it will be interesting to see if a man of principle and goodness can prevail over a pope, a mobster, a union boss and a stuntman. The film itself is a far cry from the world of Heller’s wonderful last effort, Can You Ever Forgive Me, and not as effective, but it’s an intriguing alternative to almost everything else currently on release.
Screenwriters: Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, inspired by the Esquire magazine article Can You Say… Hero by Tom Junod.
Principal cast:
Tom Hanks
Matthew Rhys
Chris Cooper
Susan Kelechi Watson
Maryann Plunkett
Enrico Colantoni
Country: USA/China
Classification: PG
Runtime: 109 mins.
Australian release date: 23 January 2020.
In Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood [sic], we are introduced to an extraordinary character who graced TV screens in the USA for decades, Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). He created and hosted a highly popular children’s show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, that ran on public television for 33 years, from 1968 to 2001, and is remembered fondly to this day by people all over the States. His honest and open style of presentation covered emotional and philosophical issues like coping with death and divorce, sibling rivalry, attending school and the nuances of friendship, and so on, which had a great impact on kids and which they often didn’t learn from ‘mom and pop.’ Basically, he taught his young viewers how to behave ethically and responsibly. His success was widely recognised by his peers and he received many awards and honorary degrees for his pioneering work.
The film is not only about Rogers, though - his story is revealed through the eyes of a cynical journalist who writes for Esquire magazine, Lloyd Vogel (Welsh actor Matthew Rhys), who is given the task of interviewing the entertainer for a 400-word piece on heroes. Vogel is at first utterly unconvinced by Rogers as he is used to exposing his subjects, revealing people’s flaws, foibles and falsities. He can’t accept that this man is as good and kind as he appears, assuming that his on-air persona must be a construction. As the pair gets to know one another, we learn that Vogel has a fractured relationship with his father Jerry (Chris Cooper), and has been estranged from him for years. At a crucial meeting, Rogers looks at us (the camera), and asks us, via the off-screen journo, to think about “all the people who have loved us into being.” When Vogel accepts the wisdom of Roger’s home-spun philosophy on life, he realises that his pessimistic attitude has been keeping him from fully embracing his relationships with his loved ones and he embraces Rogers’ aphorism that, “Anything mentionable is manageable.”
In one sense, the distributors were quite optimistic bringing this film to an international audience because, although Rogers is familiar to most Americans, he is virtually unknown everywhere else, so they’re obviously banking on the star power of Mr. Hanks. Also, they are probably hoping that, given the current negative political and environmental global climate, A Beautiful Day’s strong message of positivity will strike a chord with audiences. Rogers was not just a very kind person, he also showed respect and concern for his fellow human beings - rare in today’s neo-conservative, every-man-for-himself society - and he made a point of sharing his principles with everyone he came in contact with. At times, his saccharine manner seems a bit creepy, but that’s probably only because his brand of ‘niceness’ is so unusual today.
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is a visual and aural delight, especially the Neighborhood of Make-Believe sets from the TV show, which are captured in bright colours and complemented by Mister Roger’s upbeat on-air attire (his cardigans were apparently knitted by his mother). The director’s brother, Nate Heller, composed the whimsical soundtrack, which evokes the period well. Hanks does a masterful job of displaying the old-fashioned values that Roger’s promoted. He has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Academy Awards and it will be interesting to see if a man of principle and goodness can prevail over a pope, a mobster, a union boss and a stuntman. The film itself is a far cry from the world of Heller’s wonderful last effort, Can You Ever Forgive Me, and not as effective, but it’s an intriguing alternative to almost everything else currently on release.
