At the 77th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony in 2020, famous Hollywood movie star Tom Hanks won the Lifetime Achievement Award. This actor, who has debuted since the 1970s, has always been one of Hollywood's most popular box office stars.
Won the actor Oscar twice, nominated for the Golden Globe Award 10 times, and won the actor three times. The movies starring in include "Forrest Gump", "Philadelphia Story", "Saving Private Ryan", "Washington Post" and other real American classics. His characters are always righteous, fearless heroes, and extremely moral standards. Gao, close to the "sage", in his long career, almost only played heroes, never played the villain, is a representative of the "American spirit".
In September of this year, his latest movie "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" was officially introduced to China. In this warm biographical film, Hanks once again played the selfless dedication "sage", a memory of generations of American children. "Dad", children's show host Fred Rogers, that is, Mr. Rogers, and won a Golden Globe and Oscar double nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In terms of appearance and inner spirit, this role is considered to be the most in-depth and suitable for him after Forrest Gump.
"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is based on a true story. Reporter Royd Vogel, who was ordered by the magazine, went to interview Mr. Rogers, the host of children's show. As an in-depth investigative reporter, Vogel did not take this assignment to heart at first. However, in the interview, he was attracted by Mr. Rogers' personality and his meticulous care and respect. In the exchange between the two, Mr. Rogers slowly guided Vogel to help him resolve the contradiction between himself and his father, and Vogel's way of looking at the world was also changed by Rogers.
Mr. Rogers was born in a middle-class family in Pennsylvania, USA in 1928. He was frail and sick when he was a child, and lacked the care of his parents, so he could only accompany him with homemade stuffed toys. When he was a child, he was ridiculed by his classmates because of his obesity, and he was nicknamed "Fatty Freddy".
Starting in 1868, Mr. Rogers began to serve as the host of "Mr. Rogers' Neighbors", a series of children's programs. The program uses puppets and models to create a beautiful virtual community like a conversation, and teaches children some principles of life in the form of music nursery rhymes and performances. Among them, the scene of Mr. Rogers returning home to change shoes every day has become a classic passage of the show. Until the end of 2001, the broadcast was suspended for a few years. A total of 31 seasons have been broadcast, and it has won four Emmy Awards. It is still rebroadcast frequently on TV. In 1997, Rogers also won the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Hanks knew about the script "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" ten years ago and had read it eight years ago. In fact, he is actually Mr. Rogers' cousin, and the two have many similarities in appearance. This became a great opportunity for him to play this role. This is also the third time Hanks played his distant relative (the first time he played Walt Disney in "Save Mr. Banks" and the second time he played editor Benjamin in the "Washington Post").
In addition to the similar appearance, Hanks is also very similar to Rogers in character. Mr. Rogers in the movie has a habit of taking pictures of strangers who meet for the first time. Hanks has a photography series on his Twitter account that has lasted for many years-"Taking photos of the gloves that placed orders". Even on the day he was filming in Australia to diagnose the new crown, he still took a photo of the order placed in the hospital. My medical gloves were posted on my homepage, reminding people that this is not the end, but just a simple and ordinary day. Such an optimistic and gentle mentality is exactly the same as Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers is an extremely complex character. No one knew his past at the time. There are even urban legends that he participated in the Vietnam War and killed many people (this legend is also mentioned in the movie). He is a "saint" and a mysterious person, and playing him is also a great challenge to Hanks.
Female director Mariel Heller is a veteran of biography. I have previously filmed the biopic "Can you forgive me?" "Received multiple Oscar nominations. When shooting this film, he took a unique approach and adopted an extremely unconventional shooting technique.
In fact, this film is not a biographical film in the traditional sense, but a film about the influence of Mr. Rogers on the people around him. In the story, Lloyd’s interview with Rogers is used as the starting point. Through the description of Lloyd’s family, he will spy on Mr. Rogers.
Through interviews and dialogues, although we did not understand Mr. Rogers' past and experience, we were sufficiently infected by his life philosophy. He is a staunch vegetarian, because he can't imagine himself going to eat a creature that "has a mother". He prays for everyone he knows before going to bed, even this person he has never met. As a children's show host, he treats every child like an adult, and is willing to tell them that failure is also part of success. And everyone close to Mr. Rogers will also be infected by his light.
He didn't dig deep into Mr. Rogers' miserable childhood and family relationships, but described every ordinary person around him who was encouraged. Looking at this "sage" from their perspective, it can be said that what we see is the real feelings of the generations of American audiences who grew up watching his show. When we watch this movie, what we see is also the contact and change between people, and we learn how to get along with people.
Outside of the interview line, the film is actually a movie about father and son and family at its core. Borrowing an interview about a strange celebrity, it boils down to the character's exploration of his family relationship. Journalist Lloyd had a bad relationship with his father, but he fought at a wedding where the family was supposed to be reunited. Lloyd was so worried because his father abandoned his mother that year. He didn't even tell his father about his marriage and childbirth. At this time, his father, who was already in his twilight years, hoped to repair the relationship between the two at the end. At this time, Mr. Rogers appeared, like another father he had lost for a long time.
Mr. Rogers seemed perfect, but in some brief hints, Lloyd also understood that the relationship between this father and his real son was not as harmonious as imagined. The most perfect "father" in the United States cannot handle his family relationship well. In Rogers, Lloyd saw the regret and sadness that his father had never revealed. In the end, he also changed his mind and reunited with his father. In this movie, we can also get a real insight about father and son, reconciliation and forgiveness. Mr. Rogers is the father image that all American children yearn for, but he also bears the pressure of the moral "saint" that this role must bring, and completely abandons himself as Fred.
In a scene in the film, Mr. Rogers’ wife denied that her husband Fred Rogers was the same person as Mr. Rogers on TV, and also awakened the audience. It turns out that Mr. Rogers is just a role played by Fred. What we see is a role, but what about the real Fred? Fred and Mr. Rogers are two different characters. In the movie, we see Fred in the state of Mr. Rogers, carefully hiding his true emotions, being a "saint" all the time. He believes that everyone is unique, but he hides his uniqueness. We always use Mr. Rogers to refer to Fred, but should this be the case? From this point of view, this is actually a story about not being mad but not alive, and acting as a role in life.
Think again about Tom Hanks, who plays this role. Is the American spirit he represents, his heroic image on the screen, and the real him different? Do we know the real Tom Hanks again? Such intertextuality also makes his role of Mr. Rogers more vivid. Hanks plays Fred, and the played Fred plays Mr. Rogers again, a role that hides too many levels, making these three characters a true trinity.
Hanks made Mr. Rogers portrayed by Mr. Fred and Mr. Rogers, allowing the audience to see the side of celebrities who are moving forward with great weight in addition to the halo. This is also the biggest attraction of the film. The real Fred Rogers eventually died of stomach cancer in 2003, and for many years in between, he struggled with the pain.
The prototype of the whole movie is a report about heroes in "Mr. Fashion" magazine. So can Mr. Rogers be called a hero? The definition of a hero is to sacrifice oneself and fulfill others. This movie shows how Mr. Rogers can perfect others, but hides the sacrifice behind this role. Perhaps only at the end of the movie, when Mr. Rogers played the piano alone, the sudden trembling of a chaotic sound was the true portrayal of his untouchable sadness. From this perspective, he is undoubtedly worthy of the title of hero.
The movie will be released in China on September 18th. For this warm feeling and Tom Hanks's exquisite acting skills, it is also worthwhile for everyone to walk into the theater and experience this "beautiful day in the neighborhood".
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