A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood
Fred Rogers was an icon of American children’s television, but unlike Sesame Street it’s not transferred to this country. But you don’t need to be aware of his programme— Mr Rogers’ Neighbourhood —to pick up the story. Mr Rogers dresses up in a cardigan and casual shoes and introduces his audience to a specific home in the miniature neighbourhood. And since the film is about an Esquire journalist who’s commissioned to write a short piece about national heroes. So the film begins with Rogers introducing his friend Lloyd, “Somebody has hurt my friend Lloyd - and not just on the face.” The Playschool- like formula introduces the journalist’s picture from behind a cardboard door. (I always hated when Playschool went outside!) Lloyd Vogel ( Matthew Rees ) is a journalist with a reputation for doing hatchet-jobs on his subject. He is shown injured because he’s gone with his wife and baby daughter to his sister’s wedding, and got into a fight with his drunken father. We go back to T...