A sad news came: American writer Winston Groom, the original author of "Forrest Gump", passed away.

After seeing this news, many people will probably have a picture of Forrest Gump running all the way, never stopping.

Over the years, Tom Hanks, who plays Forrest Gump, has become to some extent the representative of good people in the United States. Some time ago, Tom Hanks and his wife were confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus, which is worrying. for several days. Fortunately, both couples recovered.

But after all, it has been a long time since we sat in a cinema and watched a movie starring Uncle Tom.

Until this one——

At the beginning of the movie, the host played by Tom Cruise pushed the door into the cabin, sang a song, opened the closet, took off his jacket, and put on red sweater and cardigan, a miniature cityscape flashed by...

The host said the opening line of the program title which is the same as the title of the film - "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood".

This host has a background - Fried Rogers, a legendary children's program host in the United States. Several generations of Americans grew up watching his program, and he is known as America's Dad. It is said that he is the only contributor to Americans' deep-rooted optimism.

The movie is also known as - The Good Guys in America.

How could this be wrong? Sure enough, all kinds of word-of-mouth seals: the film was selected as one of the top ten movies of the year by Time Magazine in 2019, with a Rotten Tomatoes freshness score of 95%. Tom Cruise was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and was also awarded Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award.

However, the movie is not a biography of a legendary host. On the contrary, it is adapted from real events, a news investigation of American dad. The deep question behind it is: Is pure truth, goodness and beauty just Acting and pretense in children’s shows?

Can an American legend be told from such an eccentric angle? In the eyes of Rogers' widow, can Tom Cruise, who is best suited to play this legendary figure, perform the essence of the character?

After watching the movie, I just want to say: these two men and this movie are so gentle.

What is "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"?

Let me first put an Easter egg spanning 30 years.

Tom Hanks once starred in a horror comedy called "Neighbors from Hell". During the most depressing moments in the film, he lay down and watched Mr. Rogers' show - "Mr. Rogers" Neighbors".

The program was launched in the turbulent year of 1968 and has been on the air for 33 consecutive years. The theme song he composed for the program has been the program theme song that Americans have been familiar with for more than half a century.

Thirty years later, Tom Cruise once again performed this American legend himself.

In the United States, Mr. Rogers is roughly equivalent to Uncle Dong Hao. He is the father of children's television and is known as "the most perfect man except God." For 33 years, he only wore one set of clothes on the show. Always keep your weight the same.

The cost of the show is extremely low and the scenery is rough. Rogers uses glove puppets to play various small animals and perform some stories.

He is not only responsible for hosting, but also writes scripts, plays puppets, and even takes over the lyrics, music, and singing of the show.

Just such a program, which has been broadcast on the American public television network PBS for more than 30 years and 895 episodes, has become the collective growth memory of contemporary American youth.

This show not only has Rogers’ strong personal style? He is the show.

During the past 33 years, he would take out a box with recorded laughter and tell everyone the types of smiles. He would also tell the children that rainy days are also fun because they can watch the raindrops dance on the palms of their hands.

The show has been airing smoothly for 33 years? In fact, not long after the show aired, it was almost canceled along with the TV station.

When PBS, the program broadcasting platform, faced a shutdown crisis and its survival was at stake, PBS formed a team to attend the hearing. Unfortunately, the people to be persuaded were core members of Congress who opposed the TV station. MP.

The hearing lasted for two days. At the critical moment, Rogers appeared on the stage. He threw away the 10-minute testimony prepared in advance as waste paper and performed an improvisation——

The result was unexpected Like something out of a Hollywood movie, the congressman was so impressed that not only did he not shut down the channel, he even increased the budget.

In the decades that followed, Rogers and his never-replaced Muppets welcomed famous guests including Yo-Yo Ma. Rogers also won four Emmy Awards, including a lifetime Emmy Award in 1997. Achievement Award.

With such a nearly perfect character, is there anything left to question?

However, the movie ignores the highlight moments in Rogers' life mentioned above, and instead focuses the story on an investigation into the myth of Rogers' American Dad.

What the story seems to want to expose is: could his concern for the children be just a job for him to earn a living?

Could the so-called innocence be just careful calculation and character design?

After all, can we believe that there are still perfect and good people in this world?

As soon as the story begins, Rogers is presented with a ruthless character.

The prototype is Tom Junod, who works for Esquire magazine, who exposed Kevin Spacey many years ago. This character is like the creator personally looking for trouble - American Dad, is this true?

In the movie, he is like a sharp-eyed eagle dog. As soon as he is interviewed, he hands the knife - "Is the Mr. Rogers you play a hero?"

What does that mean? ? Play?

Hasn’t the hole been dug for Mr. Rogers to fall into?

But what about Rogers? Instead of jumping along the hole he dug, he squinted his eyes and asked: Where did the injury on your face come from?

Originally it was Lloyd interviewing Rogers, but this time the roles were reversed.

Following the clues, he discovered that Lloyd's father abandoned his wife and children. Now that his father has terminal cancer, he wants to ask for forgiveness.

Now, the story becomes interesting.

But does this prove that Rogers is perfect?

My conclusion was denied again.

The movie almost always sings the perfect opposite tune: Rogers had to show how to hold a tent, and after a long time of struggling, he was so tired that he was panting, but the tent still couldn't be opened. In the end, Rogers gave up directly... and confused everyone.

Looking at the expressions of the column members, he was probably bored to death.

The movie also hints that the American legend was once suspended from the show for three years. The reason was that the relationship between the children's close uncle and his own son was not good.

But it is such a tired and fragile man who has moved the audience for decades.

Isn’t it contradictory? But this is also the most valuable part of the movie. It shows people the loneliness, vulnerability, persistence and optimism behind an American myth. In fact, the American father who has healed countless children is also healing himself by healing others.

Isn’t it true that the real Rogers found the most important source of inspiration for making children’s programs because of his poor health in childhood?

The cleverness of the movie lies in breaking into Rogers' pure and kind world with a destructive perspective. In the end, the questioning made Rogers' character shine more realistically.

The method used by director Mariel Heller is-a child's perspective.

She used toy cars, roads and city models similar to those in the TV column scenes to complete the integration between transition animations, studio scenes and real-life stories, to re-evaluate the world from a child's perspective. world.

It seems that she won, but the key to victory or defeat is him——

The success or failure of the film certainly lies in Tom Cruise's performance.

Normally he is like this.

He is like this in the movie.

To be honest, there is no trace of him "acting" at all. He in the play is the character himself.

But how difficult is Rogers to play? First of all, he is famous throughout the United States for his slow speaking speed, which makes people have the illusion that time is stretched out when he speaks.

Tom Cruise himself also said that the most difficult part of this performance was to imitate Rogers and slow down his speech.

Another problem is: although the two people are actually sixth cousins, they are basically different.

There is no physical resemblance, only spiritual resemblance.

Since he had to personally operate hand puppets such as "Daniel Tiger" and "Friday King" in the film, Tom also learned the skills of controlling hand puppets.

Character performance, every tiny movement has been carefully studied.

In 2003, Mr. Rogers died of stomach cancer, and he continued to suffer from illness in his later years. Please pay attention to Tom Cruise's performance at the end of the film, rubbing his back with his hands. One action is worth a thousand words.

And towards the end of the film, Tom Cruise's speech and movements become slower and slower, because old age is a kind of slowness.

But is this enough to act as a legend? A true classic interpretation must have what Wang Gang said - God comes.

In the movie, Tom Cruise provides two magical moments.

But what does Uncle Tom think?

In an instant, the diners stopped their knives and forks, the waiters stopped, the restaurant suddenly became quiet like the lake after a storm, and Uncle Tom's eyes looked at us like this, as if he saw In our hearts.

At this moment, it is like the eyes of God. That's a magical moment for a great actor.

He looked at us as if asking: In this era of competing with others to run faster, what have you forgotten?

It wasn’t until his closing words of “Thank you for accompanying me to do this” that the restaurant returned to its previous noisy state.

If Tom Cruise's performance ends here, he is still just a healer in the story, calm and peaceful, and the audience will easily be attracted by his personality charm even if they know nothing about the prototype character. Impressed and impressed, but the two-time Oscar winner did not stop there.

Please be sure to pay attention to the last three minutes of the movie: the film crew was off work, the lights and scenery on the set were removed, Rogers walked slowly towards the piano, suddenly punched the bass keys of the piano three times with his fist, and then, he He played the piano melodiously, and the only audience was himself.

Did you find it? The movie tells a story about how to reconcile with yourself and your family, but Tom Cruise's performance not only made the audience feel the warmth and sincerity of Mr. Rogers, but also used a scene at the end of the movie to interpret - "Normal" Life cannot be separated from pain."

It is just a piano performance, but it contains a thousand emotions, and a strong sense of powerlessness instantly overflows the screen. At that moment, he gave this character a sense of tragedy: It turned out that Mr. Rogers, who could heal the world, could not heal himself after all.

Because there is no perfect person in this world.

But why do people need Rogers, and why do they need such a movie?

It is said that Tom Cruise read a version of the script 8 years ago.

Eight years later, the contrast between this world and the world during Rogers' lifetime is even greater: the world has become faster.

Compared to those cool and refreshing fast-paced fights of superheroes, isn't "Neighbors" too slow?

Going one step further: Does Mr. Rogers’ approach still work?

As people grow older, they become more complex. Could it be that what I was convinced of when I was a child were just lies carefully woven by children’s programs?

But how does Mr. Rogers tell us the truth about the world?

"Neighbors" never avoids the complexity of the world, but will discuss some serious topics with children. "The world is not always a beautiful place. No matter what we do, children will know this sooner or later, but we can help them understand and accept it."

So in the show, there will be death, divorce and disappearance children.

At that time, there was still a very serious apartheid policy in the United States. Rogers designed a plot:

On a hot day, he used a faucet to wash his feet in the yard and invited a passing black police officer to join him.

A small plot, moisturizing things silently.

A little boy suffered from a tumor when he was 7 months old. He was physically disabled and relied on a wheelchair to move around.

Just before a major surgery, he goes to see Mr. Rogers.

The two sang a song together, It's you I like.

The lyrics are: What I like is you, not your clothes, not your hairstyle, not the things around you that hide you; but your original appearance, your heart and your feelings. I love your skin, your eyes, every bit of you, old and new.

Dazai Osamu has a famous saying: I am a human being, I am sorry.

This song contains Rogers' most widely circulated sentence: I like you as you are.

One small sentence has changed the lives of many people.

The real world is imperfect, but every adult actually needs to be healed by childhood.

It was precisely because of facing reality that Rogers achieved his true childhood dream.

So in a cruel real world, does it make sense to tell such a warm story?

The documentary "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" tells a story: the restaurant scene mentioned above , in addition to the two male protagonists, there are several tables of diners. They have no lines and even the camera passes by. Do you know who they are?

They are the prototypes of the characters in the play - the American legend's family, work partners, friends, and even his widow.

The director told them at the scene, just eat slowly and talk about anything.

Everyone was smiling, as if Mr. Rogers was right next to them.

At this moment, the movie is like a dream, but it seems real.

In the real world, pain is constant, and movies are the secret channel to relieve pain.

Tom Hanks, the sixth cousin of Mr. Rogers, in the real world, even on the day he was diagnosed with COVID-19 while filming in Australia, he still took a photo of a lonely medical glove in the hospital. Posted it on his homepage to remind people that this is not the end of the world, just a simple and normal day. Just like Forrest Gump did in Forrest Gump.

In the past half year or so, so many beautiful people have left us, and life has become increasingly difficult to swallow.

But only by accepting pain and believing in childhood dreams can we live a good life.

Why do we need movies like this? Because when we grow up, we still need childhood dreams.

In the movie, Mr. Rogers had to take the subway because he was in a hurry. But as soon as he entered the carriage, he was immediately recognized.

No one came up to chat or ask for a photo, but the adults and children in the carriage sang the theme song "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" to him.

I don’t know how many people, like me, burst into tears at that moment. It was the moment when we escaped from this noisy world. The more complex the world is, the more we need such simple movies that contain complexity.

The song came to an end. On February 27, 2003, Rogers died at his home in Pittsburgh.

But the movie leaves behind a tender memory: Treating others gently and kindly will one day be treated with kindness by the world in return.

Maybe it’s Mr. Rogers, maybe it’s Mr. Hanks, maybe it’s ourselves.

Because warmth and kindness are always what we and the world we live in need.

When the lights were turned on, I wiped away my tears and found that there was a lonely spectator beside me who was crying. I smiled at him, thinking that this was another beautiful day for the neighborhood.

This is probably what a good movie is, it tells us that this world is not all that bad.