And so, we have come to the final non-gimmick review of the year. And what a year it has been. In a year such as this, we have all needed a bit of a lift, so I thought for this week I would pick a film which would be uplifting. What better film for that reason than ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ (2019). This is one o the films that was going around Oscar season last year that I never got around to seeing. Well until now that is. The film is based on a true story and follows Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a journalist, who has been assigned to a project focused on heroes of America. He is specifically tasked with interviewing Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). Not only does the interview not go as expected for Lloyd, but his meeting with Mr Rogers also changes his life in ways he would never have expected.
For the record, I should state that I know little to nothing about Mr Rogers so I can’t say whether or not this film is an accurate portrayal of his character or life (I would suggest not). But film Rogers does happen to be the nicest person in the world and so Tom Hanks is the perfect casting for him. His casting does mean that the film runs into the issue of me not really being able to see anyone but Tom Hanks, but it is still a good performance from him. He manages to create a character who feels real while also being almost unattainably good and it works with what the film is doing. The rest of the performances are strong as well, but none really top that of Hanks. The film is also good on a technical level with solid direction and some nice visuals. There is also an odd side to this, but I will touch on that later. I especially liked the scene transitions throughout the film which, I assume, mimic the transitions used in the Mr Rogers tv show. These really added to the overall charm of the film, and the film is definitely charming. But I also think my lack of knowledge about Mr Rogers affected my engagement with the film. For me, the film kind of felt like your standard Hollywood schmaltz. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, and the film doesn’t pretend to be anything different, but it did mean that it wasn’t exactly up my street. To say that this made it a bad film would be a lie, but it did mean that I wasn’t particularly interested. However, there is an aspect of this film which I found really interesting, and that is that it is somewhat surrealist.
There are several bizarre moments in this film, including the opening scene. This scene shows the opening of an episode of Mr Roger’s show and he introduces us to Lloyd before having met him in the film. It basically establishes that what we see throughout the film is actually taking place in an episode of the tv show, but then this is never really established again. There is also a scene where Mr Rogers breaks the fourth wall in a truly surreal moment. It comes in a scene where Mr Rogers and Lloyd are talking in a restaurant and Mr Rogers asks if they could have a moment of silence. The sound of the film completely cuts out and Mr Rogers stares into the eyes of the audience as if staring into your soul. It is truly odd. And then we have the best scene. This scene can actually be explained away as a dream sequence, but it involves Lloyd becoming the embodiment of his childhood toy and becoming involved in an episode of Mr Rogers. It is a scene that has the most interesting visuals and script, with it being weird, funny, and moving the narrative along nicely. I am sure there are more scenes like this which I have forgotten, but this just gives you a sense of the weird style this film adopts at times. These scenes are the best throughout the film, and they make me much more inclined to go back to the film to see if there was an extra weird stuff that I may have missed.
‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ is a film that can totally understand the love for, even if that love is not there with me. Despite the oddities that the film presents in its narrative structure and some of its visuals, I feel it is overall filled with a bit too much Hollywood style sentimentality for my liking. Maybe it was just my mood (I was ill when I watched it) and there was enough there to make me interested in going back to it. I would also recommend it, especially this year. It is massively charming and uplifting which may just be what people need right now.
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