TIFF 2019: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood takes us into the world of Mr Rogers, a little deeper in some ways than  expected, while not really showing us much beyond the character he presents on his show.

Tom Hanks portrays Fred Rogers absolutely perfectly, while Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, a journalist with a troubled personal life who initially resents being assigned a puff-piece, covering Rogers for an issue of Esquire about heroes. Rogers' freakish niceness is difficult for Vogel to accept as real (I felt the same way watching the film), but it is real, and it eventually helps Vogel to come to terms with his issues. I was surprised to find myself crying despite my feeling that Rogers was too good to be true.

This one was quite good, despite a deliberately very slow pace (consistent with the character of Mr Rogers and how he behaved on his show).

TIFF 2019 Overview