I tend to like movies for different reasons. Some movies connect with me and my thoughts on life, some movies entertain, some are gripping and others have depth. If I were to ask myself specifically why I liked A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, it is probably because it connected with my thoughts on life as well as having depth.
Going into the movie I assumed I would be watching a feel good movie that would leave a warm glow on a cold winter evening. While it did give me the warm glow I was looking for, it also gave me so much more.
The easiest conclusion to draw from a movie-watching perspective is that the actors are simply brilliant. Let’s start with the two leads. Tom Hanks excels as the lovable Mr. Rogers. Matthew Rhys plays the part of Lloyd Vogel — a magazine journalist with pent up anger — to the tee. But it’s not just the two protagonists who deliver. Fans of This is Us know what a tremendous actress Susan Kelechi Watson is, and she doesn’t disappoint on the big screen, playing a complex role with understated depth. Finally, Chris Cooper turns in one of his finest performances in recent memory with a heart-wrenching role of a father who wants to make things right.
Director Marielle Heller along with writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster also deserve a lot of credit. Heller deftly captures the emotions of all the characters without the need to dramatize moments. Each and every setting in the movie is relatable to the viewer and at no moment does she let us disconnect from the story. I also loved the used of a children’s toy world as a storytelling device during Lloyd’s narrative.
While the writing has the very obvious source material of the original Esquire piece, I like that Harpster and Fizterman-Blue didn’t shy away from the difficult parts of the story. That the film has gravitas while simultaneously having lightness of touch is in large part down to the writing duo.
All said and done, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is not simply a feel-good biopic. It is in its own right, a commentary on the complexity of life, while also a message on the power of kindness and forgiveness. I left the theatre feeling a bit reflective and also a bit inspired. And therein lies its greatest success, because at the end of the day, all of us could do with a bit of reflection and a bit of inspiration.
Random Musings 