{"id":8063,"date":"2019-11-22T08:37:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T13:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8063"},"modified":"2019-11-22T08:38:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T13:38:37","slug":"review-a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8063","title":{"rendered":"Review: A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been called saint, he\u2019s been called savant, but maybe Fred Rogers, child whisperer extraordinaire, was just an empath functioning on an abnormally deep level. (An empath, explains Google, is \u201ca person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual\u201d.) 

A detailed account of Mr. Rogers\u2019s extraordinary life was given in last year\u2019s prize-winning documentary \u201cWon\u2019t You Be My Neighbor,\u201d yet here we are again,  this time watching \u201cA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,\u201d  a fictionalized account of a friendship the television personality developed with a journalist, Tom Junod. 

Best known for taking down celebrities in hit pieces for Esquire magazine, Junot didn\u2019t expect much when he traveled to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s for an interview with \u201cthe guy with the kiddie show.\u201d  Least of all did he expect that the snappy 400-word mini-bio he was sent to write would develop into a huge, heart-warming 10,000-word cover story, the much-admired  \u201cCan You Say\u2026 Hero?\u201d

The magazine piece was part Mr. Rogers, part Tom Junod; the jaded journalist had met, if not God, then certainly one of His earthly minions, and he wanted to explain to the world the magic of true kindness.  The article may well have salvaged Tom Junod\u2019s professional life – he had caused Esquire a heap of legal trouble by a near-outing of  Kevin Spacey years before the actor was ready to come out \u2013 and it saved Junod\u2019s personal life if we are to believe \u201cA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.\u201d The movie is a blend of the magazine piece, Junod\u2019s memories of Fred Rogers, and a screenplay by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On set with director Marielle Heller and Tom Hanks.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fresh off last year\u2019s successful \u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me?\u201d (three Oscar nominations), director Marielle Heller cast Tom Hanks, the patently Nicest Guy in Hollywood, to play Fred Rogers, the absolutely Nicest Guy in Television.  

It almost sounds too perfect, but fear not \u2013 Tom Hanks is just right. He is not imitating Mr. Rogers, nor mimicking him, the way Eddie Murphy did so deliciously on SNL.  Hanks creates an illusion of the icon he portrays, which means your eyes see Tom Hanks, but your heart feels Mr. Rogers.  Yes, Tom Hanks is that good.     

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Neither mimicking nor imitating, Hanks as Mr. Rogers.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He may be nominated, and even win, a third Oscar, but he would be competing in a Supporting category.   The lead of \u201cA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood\u201d belongs to the journalist; the movie is his story about coming to terms with himself, his work, and his family, with the unexpected help of Mr. Rogers. 

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys (you know him from \u201cThe Americans\u201d) plays Junod, who for some reason is given a different name in the film, Lloyd Vogel.   Susan Kelechi Watson plays his wife, Andrea  (in real life, she\u2019s Janet), and Chris Cooper is the ornery dad. Other changes: there is a needlessly ramped-up hostility between Rhys and Cooper\u2019s characters, but it makes for good side-drama.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Matthew Rhys plays a journalist who develops a special friendship with Mr. Rogers.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The big conflict, the one we care about, is the one that Junod\/Vogel creates between himself and his subject, Mr. Rogers.  Gently, yet with unfailing determination, Mr. Rogers turns the tables on the journalist, starts interviewing him, applying the same, simple language he has honed for decades on his \u201ckiddie\u201d show. Long pauses for contemplation \u2013 necessary when communicating with a child, but uncomfortable for an adult to handle \u2013 and the journalist is bested at his own game.

Breaking the fourth wall in movies \u2013 this is when an actor addresses the viewer –  has been done for more than a hundred years.  Chaplin did it, Oliver Hardy, Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen\u2026 comedians all, who enjoyed quick winks at their audience.   The way the concept is employed by Marielle Heller is unusual: 

A very straight-faced Mr. Rogers gives his new friend Lloyd a little comfort-talk, topping it with,   \u201cWould you just take, along with me, a minute, to think of the people who have helped you become who you are?\u201d He grows silent, and Tom Hanks\u2019s eyes moves from looking at Matthew Rhys to looking, no, staring, hypnotically, into my<\/em> face, and yes, Tom Hanks made me think of, and miss, long-gone people.  Scary and weird!    

With a different cast, a different director, and different writers \u201cA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood\u201d could easily have gone off the rails, and ended up as sanctimonious blubber.  Make no mistake, this is a Kleenex-driven drama, but it earns its tears honestly.   It\u2019s a lovely tribute to Fred Rogers about the most precious gift there is – enduring friendship.   

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her review, Mercy tells us, “your eyes see Tom Hanks, but your heart feels Mr. Rogers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[79,1059,1835,1551],"class_list":["post-8063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-drama","tag-marielle-heller","tag-mr-rogers","tag-tom-hanks","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8070,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8063\/revisions\/8070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}