A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is a salve for our times

We all think we know America's uncle, Tom Hanks. But he's never quite given a performance like this before.

Australians don’t have a Mr Rogers equivalent, not really.

We don’t have a childhood television icon from the same DNA as Fred Rogers, a legend in American TV, a stalwart who for decades taught kids that they and their feelings were just as important as those of adults.

That iconic red zip-up cardigan, the kindly voice and the steady presence that for 33 years told everyone with sincerity, “you matter”. We don’t have that.

But even without that immediate nostalgia hit, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood so adeptly establishes how and why Mr Rogers is so important to the emotional development of generations of American children. Even as Australians, we get it. We get it straightaway.

Marielle Heller’s film, adapted by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Leah Holzer from an Esquire feature article by Tom Junod, is an empathetic and sophisticated drama fuelled by Tom Hanks’ sensational and understated performance as Rogers.

You've never quite seen Hanks like this before, and after such a long career, it's nice to know he can still surprise you.

Despite the Mr Rogers-ness of it all, Rogers isn’t the main character. That honour goes to hardened investigative journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), who has been assigned to write a 400-word profile of the entertainer for a magazine issue dedicated to heroes.

A Tom Hanks performance like no other.

Lloyd is a cynic, better known for his scathing take-downs than starry-eyed puff pieces. His misanthropic streak doesn’t fuse well with the changes in his life – a newborn baby son.

Lloyd has a volatile relationship with his own father, Jerry (Chris Cooper), and holds a grudge over how his dad treated his dying mother years earlier. Lloyd is full of despair and rage and has no useful tools to confront his demons until he meets Mr Rogers.

Slowly, the two men form a bond, even though Mr Rogers’ emotional availability throws Lloyd for a curve.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is just as comfortable and forthright about advocating for having feelings, good and bad ones, as Rogers was. Where Rogers wanted kids to talk about things that frightened or upset them, this film is doing the same for men.

This isn’t about bruised male egos or fragile masculinity feeling threatened by social progress and change, this movie is interested in the real emotional depths of men and mental health.

Heller’s film can do this because it has coloured in these two central male figures, and Lloyd’s father, with care and thoughtfulness.

Mr Rogers teaches us to be present for one another

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Lloyd is relatable and his struggles are familiar – and the idea that he has someone like Rogers in his life is hopeful for everyone in the audience who has ever experienced even a moment of darkness.

Much of the Rogers you see in the film is drawn from his real-life actions and words, including his frequent declarations to his young audience that “I like you just the way you are”.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is like an anti-Joker in how it confronts the mental health challenges of its main character. Instead of nihilism, hopelessness and violence, this film opts for hope.

Maybe that means A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood veers into sentimental territory in the way that so many American movies just can’t help themselves, but it’s forgivable, especially in the way it’s unafraid to say that Rogers wasn’t perfect.

Hanks’ quiet, slow energy in this film isn’t anything like the performances he’s known for, where he’s usually fast talking or commanding. There’s a softness to his presence that is still uncannily piercing – this is not an easy balance to pull off.

Tom Hanks is Oscar-nominated for this performance.

Heller, who previously made Can You Ever Forgive Me and Diary of a Teenage Girl, has proven herself a talented director in the way she creates tonal coherence within her work, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is another feather in her cap.

It’s hard to know what Rogers, who died in 2003, would’ve made of the current age we live in with its distractions, increasing division and frequently rancid public discourse, but at least we have this lovely, uplifting film to be a salve.

And if there’s one thing we can all learn from Mr Rogers, it’s not to be kind to one another, but to be present for each other.

Rating: 3.5/5

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is in cinemas from today

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