A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood (2019)

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

I was crying through much of the third act of Marielle Heller’s A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

I don’t think it’s a great film, because it plays more like visualised-therapy than drama, but it is a good film and it really affected me. (I cry easily during films, always have done.)

Tom Hanks is excellent as Mr Rogers, a children’s tv presenter (an unknown figure to most British folks), who delivers feel-good bromides via puppets and his on-screen persona. His statements appear simple, but are deceptive. Like his songs, they chime with poetry and have a way of cutting to the heart of a matter. 

Matthew Rhys plays a cynical journalist, who has to write a profile of Mr Rogers. Rhys’ character has family troubles, notably a long-running rift with his father, played by Chris Cooper.

Mr Rogers can’t help but turn the tables on his interviewer, and the journalist ends up examining his own life and relationships.

It’s an interesting way to tell a biographical story of Mr Rogers, and one that I think is successful.

There’s a remarkable moment in the middle of the film, when Mr Rogers, in a busy restaurant, asks the journalist to take a minute’s silence to think about those who have loved him into being. The journo is reluctant, but complies. And everybody in the restaurant suddenly is silent, too. The camera tracks slowly towards Mr Rogers and he shifts his gaze to stare out at us. It’s a creative gamble that might not have worked, the only time outside of Mr Rogers’ television programme the fourth wall is broken, but it works and is powerful.