Watching A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood feels almost like an act of therapy, and it’s very much by design. Part of the brilliant conceit from screenwriters, Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, in tackling the 1998 Esquire article “Can You Say…Hero?” by Tom Junod is by giving the film a framing device that makes it act like a genuine episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Thankfully avoiding a lot of the tropes and structures of your by-the-numbers biopic, the filmmakers are clearly smart enough to realize the best way to celebrate someone like Mr. Rogers is by showing how his teachings can help others.
The person that he helps in this case is Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a fictionalized version of Junod, a cynical writer for Esquire who is given an assignment by his editor to do a profile on Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks), which doesn’t jive with his investigative background, but he reluctantly accepts. As he talks to Fred, Lloyd slowly but surely begins to take in some of Fred’s principles. It isn’t easy for him however because the biggest source of anger and resentment in his life is with the relationship between him and his estranged father, Jerry (Chris Cooper).
The film comes to us from Marielle Heller, who despite having only two other movies in her filmography, has established herself as one of the very best in the game. From her thoughtful Diary Of A Teenage Girl to the bitterly funny Can You Ever Forgive Me?, she has always brought a sense of empathy and imagination to her subjects. That very much continues with A Beautiful Day, in which the filmmaking actively takes in the lessons that Fred teaches in his program to tell a story that is all about kindness and forgiveness and the bravery it takes to live a life of kindness and being in touch with your feelings.
If you expect to learn everything there is to know about Fred Rogers in this, it’s best to keep those expectations in check. This isn’t that kind of film, and you’re better off sticking with the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which is very good. The film is less about Fred, and more about what he has left behind for us, and how we can use the advice he’s taken to better enrich our lives at a time when his teachings feel more essential than they have ever been.
The film is beautifully made, and full of wonderful stylish touches. One being the use of establishing landscape shots being small models as if they were shot for Fred’s show, complete with a 4:3 aspect ratio. There’s a wonderfully weird dream sequence where Lloyd finds himself in the center of an episode. The film is full of slightly offbeat, idiosyncratic creative choices that take already strong material, and presents it in a visually powerful way. It also helps that the performances are strong across the board. Rhys plays his role like a wounded animal – vulnerable and quick to bite anything that approaches, but is softened as he realizes there is help and hope to be found. Cooper is among a strong supporting cast that also includes Susan Kelechi Watson, Maryann Plunkett, and Enrico Colantoni, all of whom make strong impressions. However, it is Hanks who walks away with the film, which isn’t all too surprising considering how his reputation makes him as close to a perfect fit for the role as you could get. He’s charming, warm, inviting, and even hypnotic in his ability to portray the earnest qualities of Fred Rogers.
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is an absolutely remarkable picture on all fronts, with every person involved firing on all cylinders. Like the show itself, the film doesn’t play things completely sweet, and will dive headfirst into heavy and complicated emotional territory that is upfront about the way it can challenge us. It’s an alarmingly healing and borderline spiritual experience, and I don’t think you have to already be a fan of Mr. Rogers to get what I’m sure many will get out of this. It is typically hyperbolic to say something like, “if everyone watched this movie, the world would be a better place,” but this film comes as close to earning that distinct praise more than anything else I’ve seen in quite some time.