Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood ends up being a brilliant affair that was actually less about Mr. Rogers and more about those around him which is exactly what he would have wanted.
It’s a timely story rooted in the need for kindness around the world, and it’s based on the true story of the friendship between Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) and a jaded journalist Tom Junod (Matthew Rhys), who after being assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbour.
This isn’t the story of Fred Rogers, and quite frankly he wouldn’t have wanted it to be which is why Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood works so well. It’s about someone who needs some help, which is what Mr. Rogers was all about.
Director Marielle Heller coming off of the brilliance of last year’s Can You Ever Forgive Me gives us a movie that is so well framed and structured that it sneaks up on us as an audience. It’s all an episode of his show with a subject who needed to learn compassion and empathy for his fellow man once again. It all looks amazing and plays with such subtle nuance that we just don’t care how we’re getting manipulated as an audience.
Tom Hanks was note perfect as Mr. Rogers but it all hinges on Matthew Rhys as our cynical reporter who finds himself in lockstep with Hanks’ character en route to finding some compassion and love in his life again.
David Voigt is a Toronto based writer with a problem and a passion for the moving image and all things cinema. Having moved from production to the critical side of the aisle for well over 15 years now at outlets like Examiner.com, Criticize This, Dork Shelf (Now That Shelf), and to.Night Newspaper.
He’s been all across the continent; serving on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, covering festivals out side of Toronto like Calgary Underground Film Festival, CUFF Docs, Slamdance, Fantasia, SXSW, DOC NYC, Santa Barbara Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival and many others
However, In the uncertain world of modern film journalism, David also knew that he needed to have a hand in writing and cementing his own contributions on the global film scene.
Having eclipsed the 10 year anniversary of his own outlet, In The Seats, where he’s been striving to support film (and TV) from all walks of life and his podcast “In The Seats With…” where after 5 & ½ years and over 750 episodes he’s talked with a wide variety of filmmakers, actors, behind the scenes artisans and so much more on the art of storytelling for the screen, which is spawning the launch of a new show in the Spring of 2026. “ITS: Soundtracks” will focus on the use of soundtrack and score in film which he believes is a combination that is the cinematic equivalent of Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
All this as well as hosting and moderating a variety of big screen events around the city, covering film in all its forms is just a way of life for him.
