A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller)

[Peng]

[Peng]

Warm and wistful as expected… and also kind of shrewd in some unexpected ways, especially on Heller’s direction. The framing of the whole film as an elaborate, (barely) more adult Mr. Rogers episode yields many dividends, most notably in keeping a formulaic throughline of our main protagonist’s arc (getting over a lifelong anguish from a bad dad) more towards charmingly simple and straightforward, rather than simplistic and contrived. Even then, a few stretches where it veers away from both Hanks’ fascinating presence and his show’s aesthetic can lean for the latter too much, becoming near a standard biopic (and not even of Rogers at that) that most of the film works hard against.

But when Heller and Hanks work in unison, it develops into something pretty special, with Heller sneakily providing one of the more thoughtful directorial efforts of the year. She slows down the rhythms of those interviews/conversations into something probing and contemplative, frames them in emotionally revealing (at times to the point of uncomfortable) close-ups, and adds some surreal touches that keep her film mostly and firmly within the range of a Mr. Rogers show: miniature transitions, dream show sequence, background unrelated extras following Rogers’ request. That last one is such an extraordinary scene, the Mr. Rogers show aesthetic pushing far beyond just enveloping the film, and go about implicating us (the audience "at home") in his lesson by breaking the fourth wall quietly but powerfully.

For his part, Hanks maintains his subject’s famous saintly facade as wholly sincere and a real deal, but shows underneath a human being’s hard work to keep that going everyday, even amidst occasional temper and frustration that threaten to bubble up from time to time. And Rhys does a wonderful job of progressing from anger and self-loathing to a deeper understanding and acceptance of vulnerable self under Rogers' guidance most believably (him recalling his abandoned childhood to wound his father deep is so brutal in the same vein of his The Americans’ fearsome delivery of “You respect Jesus, but not us!?”. The kind of film you might adore but don’t want to oversell too much, because what makes its works boils down to a most radical modesty, an anti-biopic that wants to translate and engage a subject’s influence, rather than just dutifully tells their life story. 8/10

[Henry Gale]

I really don't believe it's a movie that can be oversold, since I'm someone who basically loathes biopics (especially cradle-to-grave structured ones) and the idea of a film trying to adhere to true events and likenesses to echo reality instead of varving their own creative ideas or thesis, so when I ended up seeing this at TIFF with zero plan to or expectations behind it, after being brought to it last-minute, I was absolutely stunned and it became my favourite English-language film I saw the entire festival.

It's such an emotionally pure, beautifully surreal, astute and nuanced film. I truly love it and regret not yet being able to have seen it again. Beyond recommended.