A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

“Lloyd, please don't ruin my childhood.”

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Last year, we had the documentary about Fred Rogers called 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?', which was a fantastic documentary. And this year, we have 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.

This film takes a lot of what 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' had to say about Fred Rogers and it put it into this film that's framed around Matthew Rhys' character, Lloyd Vogel. Lloyd is a writer at Esquire Magazine and he has a bit of a troubled home life with his father and Mr. Rogers is used as the catalyst for him mending his relationship with his father.

There isn't very much to say about this film other than it's the most genuinely heart-warming film of the year. Very similar in fact to 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' and this time we have Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.

Tom Hanks himself was born to play a role like this at some point in his career. It's not the fact that Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers, but it's the fact that Tom Hanks becomes Fred Rogers in the way he replicates Mr. Rogers mannerisms, posture, and speech. Every moment Tom Hanks is on screen, you're pushed back into this coma and you lose sight of all time and things around you and it's such a focused and gentle performance.

One of the only real issues with the film is with the character you follow through this narrative, Lloyd Vogel. And the issue is that you're meant to see the narrative through his eyes, but from his opening scene, he's very unlikable- though he has a character arc by the end. It was just difficult in the early parts of the film to watch scenes completely focused on Lloyd without Tom Hanks.

And by the end of the film, you realize how impacted you were over such a short period of time and that's due to a brilliant central performance. And the whole film takes place in one episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, which was a fun way to bookend this film.

The film is about kindness, which isn't very new to this subject matter, but it's one that should be said and said more often. It's truly remarkable how impact Fred Rogers was and still is on people.

There's also a great usage of miniatures in the film that largely act as establishing shots. It was a very charming way to up the Fred Rogers aspect of this film. And Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers is not the thing that sells this movie, but rather a surprisingly impact family drama, which is framed around Lloyd.

Very similar to 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?', this is a very heart-warming film, very charming, and you will not regret seeing this film.

Rating: See It

-Nolan