Film - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Most of us will have never heard of Mr Rogers just like I’d never heard of Julia Child before Julie and Julia, but I am very happy to meet him in the shape of Tom Hanks. Mr Rogers had a long-running American kids programme where he gave life lessons to children, much like Oprah does to adults and seems equally adored.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (you’ll be humming the song) is more the story of the unpopular journalist who was asked to profile him for a heroes feature. The film is more centred on him and that’s why it worked and through the questioning, we got to know Mr Rogers too. As the journalist Lloyd Vogel put it, he fixes broken people, much like himself struggling with what sort of relationship to have with his wayward father after his mum died. His wife, like every other person, is a huge fan and warns ‘don’t ruin my childhood’. To which my thoughts momentarily turned to all the public figures I grew up with who have done just that.

The scene that really shows Mr Rogers for who he is when on the subway a group spanning 2-3 generations impromptu sang his own song back to him.

Joy.

8½/10