Fred Rogers with his puppet/alter ego Daniel Striped Tiger and aww, man, I'm crying again. (Image © Focus Features)
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? A-
100 words can’t contain my own love for Fred Rogers, nor can ninety minutes sum up the most extraordinary, and unlikely, of American lives. Morgan Neville’s documentary is at its best when focusing on footage of Rogers himself, from his stirring address to Congress in 1969 to his post-9/11 PSAs. The film stops just shy of hagiography, and moves too neatly past Rogers’ reticence to address gay rights, but leaves the audience with a grace note that gently confronts each of us with blessings we’d forgotten we’d received—blessings like the life and work of Fred Rogers himself.
Matt Guerrero, Film Editor
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Directed by Morgan Neville
In Theaters Now