"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" (2019)

Another film that continued and emphasized the 2019 theme of decency was “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Fred Rogers is someone our culture has remembered in these days where bullies and hate-mongers are rewarded. Back in 2018 the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” told his story. This new film is less about Mr. Rogers, and more of a fiction inspired by real events. Specifically, the events surrounding an article written about Mr. Rogers by Esquire in 1998.

The story is simple, straightforward, and inspiring. That would be enough to recommend the film, but it also tells the story in an incredibly creative way. A framing device is used in which we see an episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood that never really aired, about Lloyd Vogel, the reporter who profiles him. But that is not the only instance of the fourth wall being broken in the film.

In a reference to an acceptance speech Rogers gave at the Emmys in 1997, Rogers asks Lloyd to think about everyone who has loved him in his life, who have made him the man he is today. They are sitting in a café in the scene, and as Rogers asks Lloyd to consider this moment of silence, the who café slowly becomes silent. Then, as the seconds tick away, Rogers breaks the fourth wall and stares right into the viewers eyes. It is the most moving moment of cinema from 2019.

I hope you got to experience Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood at some point in your life. If not—or even if so—you owe it to yourself to see this film.