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Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) (100%)
Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Joanne Rogers, Betty Aberlin, McColm Cephas Jr.
Production Company: Tremolo Productions
There's something incredibly special about revisiting your childhood. I watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood every day when I was a kid. It was just part of my daily routine, as originally decided by my mom, but continued by me because I enjoyed it so much. And in doing so, I guess I formed a bit of a bond with Mr. Rogers, albeit entirely through a television screen. He tackled a wide range of subjects and exposed me to even some adult topics, but did it in a way that didn't make them feel like adult topics.
As with most things from my childhood, eventually I stopped watching the show and I really hadn't thought about Mr. Rogers since I was a child. Whenever he's been brought up, I have made sure to mention that I used to watch him and that he was awesome, but I've never revisited his show. So when I heard about this documentary coming out, I was extremely excited. And as I walked into the theater and saw that it was packed (which was surprising, as this is a documentary being shown in an indie theater, after all), I knew it was going to be a special time. The audience was filled with a wide variety of people, and that's because Mr. Rogers didn't impact a certain generation or group of people, he had an impact on people my age (21) all the way to my parents' generation who are in their late 50s. There was just this feeling I had from the moment that the previews started...that I was about to re-live a part of my life that I look back on very fondly, and it really seemed like a lot of the other people in the theater felt the same way. I don't cry while watching movies. It's just something I've never really done. It's not that I have never been emotionally impacted by movies or saddened by certain stories, but I've always been able to keep the tears at bay. That was not the case with this film. Within the first 10 minutes, my eyes were watering hardcore. And there were a few times where I couldn't keep a few tears from trickling down my face. There were several points during the film when it got pretty quiet, and I could hear that several other people in the theater were having a similar experience.
It's not that this is simply the greatest documentary ever because it's just an out-of-the-box, original film. It does do a very good job of covering both Mr. Rogers as a person and Mr. Rogers as a TV host, but at it's core it's a pretty textbook documentary. What makes this documentary so incredible to me is the subject, and what that subject means to me. I've never found myself so enthralled by a simple documentary, and I've never found myself wanting a documentary to keep going, and going, and going...like I did with this one. Hell, I stayed seated all the way through the credits, which I don't usually do unless it's a Marvel film. Clearly, Mr. Rogers meant more to me than I ever knew.
So, I don't give this film a perfect score because it's necessarily the greatest documentary you or I will ever watch, I have given it a perfect score because it's an experience I'm not sure I'll ever have again while watching a documentary. It was something truly special for me.
If you watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as a kid, or if you just know about Mr. Rogers, go see Won't You Be My Neighbor? if you get a chance. You might not get quite as emotionally destroyed by it as I was, but you should very much enjoy it.
Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Joanne Rogers, Betty Aberlin, McColm Cephas Jr.
Production Company: Tremolo Productions
There's something incredibly special about revisiting your childhood. I watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood every day when I was a kid. It was just part of my daily routine, as originally decided by my mom, but continued by me because I enjoyed it so much. And in doing so, I guess I formed a bit of a bond with Mr. Rogers, albeit entirely through a television screen. He tackled a wide range of subjects and exposed me to even some adult topics, but did it in a way that didn't make them feel like adult topics.
As with most things from my childhood, eventually I stopped watching the show and I really hadn't thought about Mr. Rogers since I was a child. Whenever he's been brought up, I have made sure to mention that I used to watch him and that he was awesome, but I've never revisited his show. So when I heard about this documentary coming out, I was extremely excited. And as I walked into the theater and saw that it was packed (which was surprising, as this is a documentary being shown in an indie theater, after all), I knew it was going to be a special time. The audience was filled with a wide variety of people, and that's because Mr. Rogers didn't impact a certain generation or group of people, he had an impact on people my age (21) all the way to my parents' generation who are in their late 50s. There was just this feeling I had from the moment that the previews started...that I was about to re-live a part of my life that I look back on very fondly, and it really seemed like a lot of the other people in the theater felt the same way. I don't cry while watching movies. It's just something I've never really done. It's not that I have never been emotionally impacted by movies or saddened by certain stories, but I've always been able to keep the tears at bay. That was not the case with this film. Within the first 10 minutes, my eyes were watering hardcore. And there were a few times where I couldn't keep a few tears from trickling down my face. There were several points during the film when it got pretty quiet, and I could hear that several other people in the theater were having a similar experience.
It's not that this is simply the greatest documentary ever because it's just an out-of-the-box, original film. It does do a very good job of covering both Mr. Rogers as a person and Mr. Rogers as a TV host, but at it's core it's a pretty textbook documentary. What makes this documentary so incredible to me is the subject, and what that subject means to me. I've never found myself so enthralled by a simple documentary, and I've never found myself wanting a documentary to keep going, and going, and going...like I did with this one. Hell, I stayed seated all the way through the credits, which I don't usually do unless it's a Marvel film. Clearly, Mr. Rogers meant more to me than I ever knew.
So, I don't give this film a perfect score because it's necessarily the greatest documentary you or I will ever watch, I have given it a perfect score because it's an experience I'm not sure I'll ever have again while watching a documentary. It was something truly special for me.
If you watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as a kid, or if you just know about Mr. Rogers, go see Won't You Be My Neighbor? if you get a chance. You might not get quite as emotionally destroyed by it as I was, but you should very much enjoy it.