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Cynical reporter charmed by goodness of real-life character
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Director Marielle Heller frames “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” as if it were an episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” with miniature sets of cars and bridges to illustrate New York and Pittsburgh. Mr Rogers, played with clear-eyed purpose by Tom Hanks, introduces the audience to the film’s protagonist, journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), using his “picture window” in that all-too-familiar living room.
But “A Beautiful Day” is not really a children’s story at all. It’s a story about a man who suffers from the doubly impossible combination of being an adult and an investigative journalist. In other words, he’s the person least likely to be charmed by the sincerity of someone like Fred Rogers.
The film is loosely based on Tom Junod’s article “Can You Say...‘Hero’?” which appeared in Esquire Magazine in November of 1998. Junod has said that spending time with the then 70-year-old changed him. Cynical at first, the two formed a friendship that would last until Rogers’ death in 2003.
The film introduces Lloyd at a particularly unstable moment. He’s got a newborn son with his wife, Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson), and his long-estranged father (Chris Cooper) has to come back into his life. It’s under these high-pressure circumstances that his editor (Christine Lahti) assigns him to write a “small piece” about Fred Rogers for the magazine’s “heroes issue.” Lloyd scoffs at what he considers a demeaning assignment. He’s there to be an investigative journalist and the host of a cheesy children’s show is, he thinks, below him. Andrea even asks her husband not to ruin her childhood.
He remains skeptical even upon meeting Fred and goes back to his editor to ask for more time, saying that he “just doesn’t think he’s for real.”
Sure, part of you is probably thinking Lloyd a monster but consider his point of view. Fred uses puppets during his interview and deflects on the more pressing questions, often diverting and asking about his interviewer instead of answering. And yet, his goodness starts to transcend all of that. Heller does a marvelous job illustrating the effect Fred has on those around him. Even the production staff, who he infuriates with his tendency to veer off schedule by spending too long with visitors, falls in line when he starts to work his singular magic in front of the camera.
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