Why didn't I see this sooner, perhaps in a theater? Probably because Won't You Be My Neighbor? came out not so long before. But now seems like a good time to explore promising stress relief.
In 1998, Lloyd (Matthew Rhys), an Esquire writer based loosely on Tom Junod, has such a reputation for scathing articles that almost nobody will agree to an interview with him anymore. His editor, Ellen (Christine Lahti), gives him a different kind of assignment: 400 words on Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks), as part of a series on heroes. Lloyd is not happy about this; neither is his wife, Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson), partly because he'll have to fly from New York to Pittsburgh, leaving her alone with their baby for a while, and partly because she worries what he'll write about her childhood icon. But Rogers has a way of helping people deal with their emotions more healthily, which is especially important when Lloyd holds a serious grudge against his own father, Jerry (Chris Cooper).
Reminder: This was toward the end of the run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In my experience at that time, virtually nobody accused Rogers of anything unethical, but it wasn't too unfashionable to make fun of him. I wouldn't have put it past Lloyd.
Like Hitchcock, the movie is framed to resemble a TV episode. In addition to the intro and closing, we see obvious fake sets when Lloyd is headed somewhere by plane or another vehicle. There are enough songs to consider adding a "musical" label. Sometimes it requires a level of patience similar to MRN (Hanks had to practice hard not to talk too fast), so it's pretty light on plot progression for 109 minutes. But I don't recommend showing this to preschoolers: It's rated PG for a fleeting fistfight, talk of Jerry's past adultery, and mild foul language if I recall correctly.
Unsurprisingly, Rogers, while not the protagonist, is the most interesting character. He makes no distinction between his on-screen presentation and his real self. He really appears to love everyone, giving special attention to the ones who need it most. He's not immune to anger; he just expresses it privately in harmless ways, leaving us only the slightest hint of what might have upset him. He doesn't see himself as a hero, and his wife (Maryann Plunkett) indicates that neither of them feels comfortable to hear him called a saint. The worst we can say about him is that he does things on his own terms, which can really annoy anyone trying to keep a schedule. Or interview him. That and he tends to treat adults nearly the same as children.
This is one of the few times I've questioned the casting of Hanks, even if he got an Academy Award nomination for the role. Despite a semi-distant blood link, he simply doesn't look or sound much like Rogers, early or late. Maybe the same could be said of his portrayals of Ben Bradlee, Charlie Wilson, and other real people, but their faces and voices are not half as familiar to me or the general public. And of course, Hanks is distinctive in his own right. It took me a while to stop seeing him as just Hanks imitating Rogers. I think I eventually accepted the illusion because I wanted to.
I am rather a sucker for stories about cynicism melting away as cranks get in touch with their inner children. In this case, it doesn't happen too radically for belief. If you need a simple tale to lift your spirits, ABDitN isn't a bad choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment