ARE you familiar with Fred Rogers? Perhaps not. But that’s okay, you’re British. Take a leap across the pond to America, however, and said name epitomises the wonder of absolute kindness. Indeed, stateside, the man - star of beloved television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for over three decades - is a hero.

This is idolatry built not on any singular talent but simply upon the perception of Rogers as being the United States’ premiere kindly gent next door. Here was a man known for guiding young viewers through life traumas so diverse as sibling squabbling and pet bereavement. Mr. Rogers would look down the barrel of his camera and talk to an untapped audience, one still discovering the world unto which they had recently been born. His rules to happiness? Be kind, be kind, be kind.

Not all were so taken with the charms of Mr. Rogers of course. In 1998, award-winning but cynical journalist Lloyd Vogel was tasked with interviewing the man for an Esquire feature on heroes. Determined to expose Rogers’ niceties as no more than an act, Vogel pursues his target doggedly. The result proves transformative.

Such is the plot of A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, a second Oscar nominated gem in a row from Can You Ever Forgive Me? director Marielle Heller. Thematically devoted to the power of love and forgiveness, the film is braver and a touch darker than one might expect. Certainly, Heller’s fascinating employment of silence to rupture the fourth wall is not typical of your every day Hollywood biopic.

At the heart of A Beautiful Day is a beautiful performance from Tom Hanks, as Rogers himself. What perfect casting this is. Not only does Hanks look the part but he embodies it - naturally so, given the A-lister’s own reputation for kindness. Opposite Hanks, Matthew Rhys plays Vogel with honesty and much needed grit. Chris Cooper is Vogel senior, with Susan Kelechi Watson excellent as Lloyd’s wife. Watch out too for a cameo by Rogers’ real wife Joanne.

Also, Queen and Slim wears its debt to the Bonnie and Clyde story with pride but adds a thoughtfully provocative for the modern day.Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith play a couple whose disastrous first date leaves them on the run. Are they heroes, criminals or something in between? It’s great.