Film
Film review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Don't miss this film about an American TV legend , says Linda Marric
January 30, 2020 13:49
Don't miss this film about an American TV legend , says Linda Marric
January 30, 2020 13:49In her 2019 film Can You Ever Forgive Me?, director Marielle Heller told the incredible story of how Jewish American writer Lee Israel (wonderfully depicted by Mellissa McCarthy) found herself at the centre of one of the biggest literary scandals of the 1990s. Now back for the second year running, Heller impresses once more with her latest film A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, a drama starring Tom Hanks as American children's TV legend Mr Rogers.
Written by popular TV series Transparent writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, the film is inspired by the article "Can You Say ... Hero?” which was written by Tom Junod and published in Esquire in 1998.
When he is assigned an interview with popular kids TV star Mr Rogers (Hanks), embittered and eternally pugnacious award winning writer Lloyd Vogel (an exquisite Matthew Rhys) is determined to get behind the facade of a man many still regard as a real life hero. What was supposed to be a short innocuous piece to keep his editor happy, soon turns into an in-depth exposé which requires several attempts at interviewing the famously elusive Rogers.
Eager to expose Rogers’s amiable persona as an elaborate act, Vogel soon finds himself immersed in the entertainer’s enchanting universe of handmade puppets, catchy ditties and where words of wisdom are handed to every man, woman and child at a drop of a hat. Vogel is soon inspired by Rogers to look into his own acrimonious relationship with his estranged father Jerry (Chris Cooper), a man he has despised for most of his life.
Away from the beautifully disarming buddy movie qualities of her last film, Heller employs similar narrative devices here to tell this beautifully intricate and uplifting cautionary tale which is further elevated by Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster emotionally-charged screenplay.
Hanks is as likeable as ever in a role which has rightly nabbed him a Best Supporting Actor nod at next month’s Oscars, but props should also go to British actor Matthew Rhys for his incredible turn and impeccable American accent throughout.
Heller evidently excels at these kinds of narratives. Here, she presents an enchanting tale in which a cynic’s world is turned upside down when he finds grace, redemption and kindness in the most unlikely place. This is a beautifully told and impeccably acted film... Unmissable.