Synopsis
Lloyd Vogel is an investigative journalist who receives an assignment to profile Fred Rogers, aka Mr Rogers.
Review
If you’re expecting this film to be a biopic about Fred Rogers then you might be left disappointed by Marielle Heller’s latest feature because the director isn’t interested in telling the man’s life story in her movie, but more so she’s attempted to showcase the effect his message of kindness and compassion had upon others.
I’m a massive fan of Marielle Heller, I loved her first feature The Diary of a Teenage Girl and her wonderfully cynical 2018 feature Can You Ever Forgive Me? Following that film with this feels like a complete 180-degree turn for Heller. In stark comparison to her previous feature, this is such an unashamedly joyous affair and an important reminder of the positive effect that kindness and forgiveness can have on our day to day lives, particularly our mental health.
Taking its cue from It’s a Wonderful Life, the film casts Rogers (Hanks) in a role akin to Clarence from Frank Capra’s feature as it showcases how his encounter with Esquire magazine’s Lloyd Vogel (a fictitious creation) acts as a catalyst for positive change in the journalist’s life.
Lloyd (Matthew Rhys) is a troubled, cynical soul whose recently become a father. He’s still grieving the death of his mother years prior, but he’s also holding onto feelings of anger and resentment against his own father, who walked out on both Lloyd and his sister when they were much younger.
When Lloyd’s father Jerry (Chris Cooper) reappears on the scene in an attempt to reconcile his relationship with his children, his appearance causes those feelings to bubble up to the surface again and its effect on Lloyd puts considerable strain on his relationship with his wife and infant son.
Tasked by his editor to write a profile on Rogers for a feature in the magazine about American Heroes, Lloyd initially can’t believe that Fred is for real. When he first meets him he cynically believes that Fred’s ‘saint-like’ persona is nothing more than an act for the camera, but as he starts to spend time with ‘Roge’, he discovers that the man is just the same in front of the camera as he is behind it.
As he interviews Fred for his piece, the journalist reluctantly starts to open up to Mr Rogers about his feelings and Lloyd begrudgingly comes to realize the negative effect that living with this resentment has had upon him and the importance of forgiveness.
Hanks is perfectly cast as Mr Rogers, surprisingly he was reluctant to take on the role, but it’s a good thing Heller persuaded him to do so because his portrayal of the man is pitch-perfect. He’s not trying to do an outright impression, but more so he gives a softly spoken, compassionate performance that tries to capture everything that Mr Rogers stood for.
There’s one scene in particular from the movie that really stood out for me and has stayed with me since I first saw the film last year at the London Film Festival. Now when I describe it, I know it’ll sound cheesy as hell; but believe me, it really works as a powerful piece of cinema as Fred simply asks Lloyd to pause for a second and think about everyone that ‘loved us into being’.
Lloyd reluctantly does as Fred asks and everything onscreen comes to complete standstill. The film pauses for a second and we as viewers pause with it, as the camera pans slowly across the restaurant where the two men are sitting before eventually coming to rest on a shot of Fred’s face and it seems as if Hanks himself is looking back at us down the lens of the camera.
It’s a beautifully simple scene that replicates a moment in real life when Mr Rogers accepted a lifetime achievement award at the Emmys and asked the audience in attendance to do exactly the same thing.
Admittedly the film won’t be for everyone, its sweet-nature won’t be to everyone’s taste, whilst I really liked it even I found it too sickly sweet for its own good at times. The decision to frame the movie like one big episode of Rogers’ TV Show is a nice touch, but using models like those seen in Mr Rogers’ neighbourhood for the exterior shots of New York City was just a little too cheesy.
Viewers outside of the United States mightn’t be too familiar with Mr Rogers and the impact he had upon American television, but If you want to know more about the man after watching this movie then I’d strongly recommend seeking out Morgan Neville’s fantastic documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbour (Trust me its fab).
Verdict
I really loved this film, it’s an unashamedly uncynical feature with an important message at its core. A timely reminder (particularly for us men) about the positive effect that talking to someone about the things that get us down, no matter how small or trivial they might seem, can have on our mental health.
