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It's very easy to be cynical. It is so easy to be cynical that we have discovered a way to monetize it and we have a whole media infrastructure to tell us about our negative feelings. You will not receive articles on "restoring your faith in humanity" if this faith is not eroded on a daily basis. Marielle Hellerof the A nice day in the neighborhood explore how kindness is difficult. Forgiveness is difficult. Grace is difficult. Although Fred Rogers is at the center of his film, it's not really a film about Fred Rogers as the documentary of last year. Do you want to be my neighbor? Instead, it is a film intended for cynical adults as the protagonist of the film. Led by excellent performance of Tom Hanks and Matthew RhysHeller's film uses Rogers' worldview to show that his lessons, while designed for children, remain vital to adults and all the emotional baggage we carry.
Lloyd Vogel (Rhys) is a well-known magazine journalist, known for his sensitivity to topics. He is also very hateful of his father, Jerry (Chris Cooper), who abandoned Lloyd and his sister when they were children and their mother was dying. While Jerry tries to be forgiven, Lloyd's editor at Esquire gives him a clear profile on Fred Rogers (Hanks). Reluctantly, Lloyd is about to interview the beloved child artist, but he is caught off guard by Rogers' kindness and empathy. Although he is searching for the darkness or hypocrisy in Rogers' character, Lloyd begins to slowly lower his guard and realizes that he may have something to learn from the quiet, quiet person he is interviewing.
Image via TriStar Pictures
A nice day in the neighborhood This is not the story of Fred Rogers. It's Vogel's (which is based on a journalist Tom Junod), and its story aims to put Rogers' lessons into practice. Heller is not really interesting to question Rogers or to cast a skeptical glance at him as much as to accept his message and see how it works for adults. It's one thing to have a puppet who asks a child, "What are you doing with the crazy you feel?", But what does this question mean for an adult who has accumulated decades of resentment towards his father? Moreover, if we are not at the level of kindness and generosity incarnated by Rogers, do we fail? A beautiful day said with compassion no, and that to make Rogers a superhuman saint would be a mistake.
This notion of fighting against humanity is mirrored in Hanks' performances. It's not about "disappearing" as Rogers, but about understanding what challenges the character. Lloyd poses difficult and invasive questions to Rogers, and at that moment, Hanks' eyes show a man in anger and eager to pick on him. With subtlety and skill, Hanks shows us the inner workings of Rogers as he actively works to turn anger into kindness. He did not swallow his emotions or deny them, but rather did a job of empathy, and that's what makes this performance so inspiring. Instead of just showing that Fred Rogers was the best person of all time, Heller and Hanks show him as a deeply human man. What makes him special is how he understands that treating your emotions in a healthy way is not easy, but makes the whole world. a better place.
Image via TriStar Pictures
This lesson is put into practice during Lloyd's trip. Rhys skillfully plays the character here bringing a lot of anger and cynicism to the character who feels authentic but not unfriendly. His father really hurt him and part of Lloyd's identity is based on that anger. For the better and for the worse, his father made him what he was, but as an adult who now has a child, Lloyd must choose whether he wants to remain cynical and bitter or if Rogers' philosophy and actions show a better way forward.
Heller performs a light and playful staging, using the "Land of Make-Believe" style sets for the set shots and leaving Rogers to frame the film as if it were one of a kind. episode of The neighborhood of Mr. Rogers. It's an adult-only episode, yet it never feels like Heller is infantilizing his audience, just as Rogers has never talked to kids. It's not because a movie is sweet and seeks to convey a message about kindness and forgiveness that it does not make it childish. There is a reason we can leave Mr. Rogers Neighborhood behind, but the message and the person of Fred Rogers continue to resonate with us as adults.
Some can see A nice day in the neighborhood like a chicken soup easy for the soul – a fable of well-being that fails to adequately challenge his audience or the figure of Mister Rogers. But I would answer that we need stories that not only show why kindness and forgiveness are needed, but why they are difficult for everyone, including Fred Rogers. Yes, the Rogers presented here is a kind of pastor for a secular society, but there is something to be said for someone who comforts by his actions unlike liturgy or scripture. A nice day in the neighborhood It is not a difficult film, but it carries a difficult message: can you turn your cynicism into kindness? Can you find a way to control your negative emotions before they control you? As A nice day in the neighborhood shows, not everyone can be Mister Rogers, even Fred Rogers.
Note: B +
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