Friday, May 1, 2020

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2019) Movie Review

Fred Rogers, I knew this person just a while ago when I saw some of his videos about some of the darker stuff like death, divorce, war etc. But, something I admired about them is the elegance of his speech and diction. He speaks in a way that little little children and even adults can understand how to deal with separation. So, when A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood was dropped on Amazon Prime Video today, I was quite excited. So, as I finished watching it now, how is the film?
A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is a 2019 biographical drama starring Tom Hanks, Matthew Ryers, Chris Cooper and Susan Kelechi in lead roles directed by Marielle Keller. The story revolves around Lloyd Vogel, an investigative journalist who is assigned to profile Fred Rogers, the famous TV host while sorting out his personal issues.

The screenplay is a very well made tribute to Fred Rogers. The film is designed to be like an episode of the Mister Roger added with the off-screen drama. This film is very endearing and caring with its treatment just like Fred Rogers. It tells you to accept people and makes us understand that life is life with pain. The writing is aesthetically accurate in its depiction of New York City of the 80's. For the people who do not know Fred Rogers, the lead character is designed in such a way that we get to know the ideologies of Fred Rogers. So, this film has a damn good screenplay design and execution.

The acting in the film is amazing. Matthew Ryers delivers a wonderful performance as Lloyd Vogel. His character itself is very well made and so the actor delivers by portraying a negative mindset finding difficulties to accept some personal issues. The person who solves the problems of all people and also Lloyd's, Fred Rogers played by Tom Hanks is the best performance of the film. In some parts of the film, I was fooled by him in some places as his acting was that good. Other actors give really good performances giving the film its extra-depth.

The technical aspects of the film are too very nice. The music of the film was very melodious and soothing. The cinematography of the film with the changing aspect ratios and the TV show part really excelled. I found out that they used the same camera that they used for the show. That is insane. The editing of the film too emulates the feel of the TV show and the off-screen drama is cut smooth. The art department, costume design, make-up department who worked on the recreation of the set of the 1980's TV show worked really well to bring the set alive. 

In the end, this film is a very endearing, charming and a very inspirational film that gives you various life-lessons. It is also a very very well made tribute to Fred Rogers. If you want to know more about him, watch the 2018 documentary film "Won't you be my Neighbour?". I highly recommend you watch it because it maybe a slow for some but it is very meaningful.

IMDb Rating : 7.3/10
My Rating : 9/10

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