A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the much-anticipated biopic about Mister Rogers and his television show, isn’t so much about the man as it is about a story about a man coming to terms with the life he has, letting go of the anger he carries, and becoming the husband and father that he knows he can and wants to be. It’s an interesting take on a trailer that makes you think that this film will be all about Fred Rogers’ (Tom Hanks – Cast Away, Captain Phillips) life on and off the camera. And to an extent, that’s true, but that is not the focal point of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Category Archives: Inspired by True Events
Honey Boy (2019)
Ruthless, raw, and honest. That describes to a tee Alma Har’el (LoveTrue, 11/8/16) Honey Boy, the film based on writer Shai LaBeouf’s (The Peanut Butter Falcon, Borg Vs. McEnroe) own childhood experiences with his father. Showcasing events over two time periods, the 2005 version of Otis Lort (Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea, Ben Is Back) is a 22-year-old, rising movie star who has had violent, alcohol-induced brushes with the law. His latest DUI has landed him in a court-ordered rehab, where he is diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), something which he steadily denies. As part of his therapy, he is pressed by his counselor (Laura San Giacomo – Havoc, Sex, Lies, and Videotape) to dig deeper and pen out the events in his life that have led him to this point. At this point, we continually go back and forth between the 1995 and 2005 timelines.
Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
Inspired by actual events, Susanna White’s (Our Kind of Traitor, Nanny McPhee Returns) Woman Walks Ahead is a pretty good movie, but one made worse by its Hollywoodization. The film takes true events and changes them for no real reason. The general moviegoer would never have known the difference between what transpired and what was fictionalized. But the fact that there was a differentiation between fact and fiction didn’t do anything but cheapen the movie. One of the hardest things for me to do when reviewing a movie is trying to determine if the liberties that were taken to strip a film of its factual basis while still claiming to be based on a true story truly advance the movie past the point where it would have arrived to if it had just followed the facts.
The Mustang (2019)
Roman Coleman, the career-defining role that journeyman Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone, The Drop) has been waiting for, does not disappoint. Finally, the 42-year-old actor you’ve seen in the background here and there and everywhere gets his opportunity to truly lead a movie. As the hardened felon-turned-horse trainer proves, anything can happen to anyone, given the right circumstances. The Mustang is a brilliantly directed movie by first-time director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Roman seems to desire to serve his time quickly and with as little human interaction as possible. He is nearly unrecognizable with his shaved head, as well as chiseled, tattooed body. But his problem with the latter leads to a longer than expected stay, and his explosive anger to go with that machine of a body suggests that he might not be going anywhere anytime soon.
The Rider (2017)
The best thing going for Chloé Zhao’s (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Nomadland) The Rider is its authenticity. The plot is not that different than hundreds of other movies you’ve seen before. Yet, it feels refreshingly new and authentic simultaneously, due primarily to the vision of the young and talented Zhao and the decisions she made along the way. This includes her hiring of locals to play all of the characters in the film, her choice of setting (Pine Ridge Indian Reservation), her hiring of cinematographer Joshua James Richards to capture the exhaustive landscape of the South Dakota reservation, and her decision of filming this to almost feel like a documentary. Every decision she made worked. Film purists will love this. Those who need the flare or forced attempts to bring out the sentiment might be disappointed. I found myself to be somewhere in the middle. The film has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (83% audience rating). That feels right for the critics and a little high for the audience score. I likely would not have seen this movie if a longtime friend hadn’t recommended it. While I wouldn’t say I liked it as much as she did, it was a good recommendation.