Much like Seberg, the main casting choice behind this
feature is one that admittedly is a bit obvious, but is also what this
production needed right out of the gate. When you’re dealing with a figure as
nigh-on-mythical as Fred Rogers, a person that some to this day still question
the authenticity of, you need someone who can sell earnestness triumphant. So
with that in mind, they basically picked the closest person we have that is as
unabashedly likeable as Mr. Rogers himself: Tom Hanks, someone whose sheer
charm has also veered somewhat into cliché.
Knowing that a documentary about Mr. Rogers wound up
becoming my favourite film of 2018, I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was
at just how good Hanks is as everyone’s favourite nice guy in children’s
television. The hushed tone, the endearing timbre, the gentle invitation in his
voice that tells you he cares about you and wants to hear what you have to say;
the moments with him on-screen genuinely come close to Would You Be My
Neighbor? for sheer ugly-crying potential.
Of course, this isn’t really about him, at least not
entirely. Instead, his personality and enduring legacy are used here as both
production aesthetic and underlying emotional touchstone for the story on hand,
that being writer Lloyd Vogel (played with disquieting urgency by Matthew Rhys)
and his efforts to profile Mr. Rogers for a magazine. The film itself is framed
as one of Mr. Rogers’ parables about a citizen of the Neighborhood Of
Make-Believe, from the gently-plucked soundtrack courtesy of Nate Heller, the
model work used for the transitional shots, and the remarkably quiet volume of
the emotions on display. Some will likely be disappointed that Rogers himself
isn’t the focal point of the story as it is, but that’s only because director
Marielle Heller and crew want to use his persona as a gateway to something more
universal.
And on that front, Heller’s past experience with squeezing
empathetic reactions for unlikely subjects from Can You Ever Forgive Me?
follows through here, as we see Vogel both trying to comprehend how someone
like Rogers could possibly be as nice as he is, as well as dealing with his
lingering problems with his father, a role that gives Chris Cooper one of his
best performances to date. The whole Neighborhood aesthetic wraps around what
is essentially a character study of Vogel, a man whose rocky connection with
his father has turned him into a hardened cynic of an adult.
It manages to completely sidestep treacle in its depiction
of Vogel’s relationship with his father, getting into some truly dark territory
as it delves into the feelings of anger that can result from such treatment.
And in keeping with the film’s treatment of Mr. Rogers, actively refraining
from calling him a saint because “if you think of him as a saint, then his way
of being is unattainable”, it acknowledges just how difficult that position can
be, feeling almost obligated to forgive someone you’ve grown to hate with every
fibre of your being, and showing the need to still do so without infantilising
the adults in the process.
As someone who keeps feeling the need to mention how much I
dislike modern cynicism, this all sounds and feels like something I should be
watching… but it also gave me a moment to reflect on myself in the process.
Just because I have serious disdain for that way of thinking, as I see it
primarily as a massive barrier that keeps people from truly connecting with
each other, that doesn’t mean that I’m immune to that same pattern of
behaviour.
Some days, when I’m feeling less Dude than usual, I find myself
dwelling on people I’ve encountered. Former friends-of-friends, past
acquaintances, even total strangers I’ve ranted at on social media; I can
pretend all I want that I’ve stopped caring about my interactions with them…
but sometimes, I get into that mode. The one where you start imagining
having one more confrontation with them, mocking up every little thing you want
to say to them in a grand, almost-cinematic display that gives you a chance to
tell them and everyone else in earshot that they were wrong and you were right.
It can feel good to let that fire burn within, but that alone isn’t going to
keep the soul warm. If anything, that much unhealthy fixation can become
all-consuming, to the point where you start entering that mode without even
realising it. Even with people you don’t consider to be in that category.
This isn’t me advocating for just forgiving others because
you have to; I covered enough religious-tinged features in the past to
know that that mentality isn’t much better. But when you carry that fire
against someone else, and that’s all you’re able to focus on, any chance for
either them or even yourself to put it out will likely be fruitless. And as we
see with Rhys and Cooper’s scenes together, the film shows that empathy is
required in those situations.
It takes the Rogers mantra and uses it to reflect a quite
starkly realistic scenario, and in the process, highlight why Mr. Rogers’
approach to all varieties of life is something we need, not to mention
something that a lot of adults have held onto for so many years in his absence.
It may not be entirely be about Rogers as a person, but it is entirely
about Rogers as a blueprint for approaching the rest of the world. It’s a
genuine feel-good movie that doesn’t strong-arm the audience to get that
reaction, and it’d make for a damn fine double-feature with Would You Be My
Neighbor? Just… make sure you and your neighbours have flood insurance first.
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