Review 567: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a poigent, theraputic and  biographical drama film and a showcase for the talents of its two stars.

Inspired by the 1998 Esquire article "Can You Say ... Hero?" by Tom Junod, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is a troubled journalist for Esquire receives an assignment to profile Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers (Tom Hanks). He approaches the interview with skepticism, as he finds it hard to believe that anyone can have such a good nature. But Roger's empathy, kindness and decency soon chips away at Vogel's jaded outlook on life, forcing the reporter to reconcile with his own painful past.

It offers a beautifully heartwarming message about acceptance and understanding.

It shows that kindness really does triumph over cynicism.  An ode to goodness

Director Marielle Heller's direction is sensitive, the score by Nate Heller is beautiful, the costumes are immaculate, particularly Mr. Rogers signature red sweater is very striking and Hanks bears and uncanny resemblence to the sweater real life Fred Rogers wore in

Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys are superb in their roles. Fred Rogers could easily have come across as someone who is unfairingly polite to an obnoxious digree. But Hanks infuses him with such a genuine warmth and digs deep to find the nuances   Over the course of the film, Roger's chips away at Lloyd's cynisism and he becomes happier

When we first meet Lloyd, he's not a character whose intrinsically likeable but at the same time, he's someone whose

When he first the assignment of interviewing Mr. Fred Rogers, he decides to treat the profile as an investigation to find out if Mr. Rogers is just a character for the camera and he 

Chris Cooper also has a very noteworthy role in the film playing Lloyd's estranged father Jerry.

It's clear right from their introductory scenes at Lloyd sister Lorraine's (Tammy Blanchard) wedding

that they don't have the most amicable or cordial of relationships and that he wasn't much of a father throughout Lloyd's life. Least of all because he cheated cheated on Lloyd's mother and abandoned him and his sister.

This Is Us' Susan Kelechi Watson also lends a lot of  playing Lloyd's wife Andrea.