A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood2019

Extremely rewarding to watch right after reading the biography, The Good Neighbor, allowing you to relive the magic and mystic presence of the only Fred Rogers. Tom Hanks captures Rogers, both in physicality and in essence, weaving wonderful threads of simple wisdom for any of the world’s darkest experiences. His cadence and pacing was perfect. The minute of silence... powerful. Matthew Rhees was, unfortunately, too constant in his portrayal. He sold the sorrow but couldn’t sell the redemption. In the end, he was the same character when he started, even though the script told us otherwise. Maybe it was a direction problem, but it didn’t work. The neighborhood of make-believe transitions were glorious, the music was on point (except for a perplexing moment during a scuffle between Cooper and Rhees). Truly this film serves as some of the best therapy available, especially at the cost of admission. It doesn’t attempt to overshadow Mr. Rogers’ work, but in his own words serves as a means to help adults to remember how it felt to be a child and give them a second chance to grow.