Danny Collins

An American film. Danny Collins is an ageing rock singer. He has sung the same songs for forty years, the halls are full and the audience is happy. He himself has written nothing new in years; he drinks, lives with someone far younger and takes an interest in nothing. On his birthday his manager gives him a letter. It was written forty years ago; the sender is John Lennon. He had read an interview the young Danny gave a magazine and wrote back; the letter never arrived. Danny cancels the tour. He moves into a hotel in New Jersey and decides on two things: to write songs again and to find the son he has never known. His son Tom is married with two children and does not want to see him. What the film is interested in is a late attempt at repair: the man is trying to make amends and the other side is not obliged to accept it. The narrative sets out from a real event; a letter written to a British musician came to light years later. Al Pacino plays Danny, Annette Bening the hotel manager, Christopher Plummer his manager and Bobby Cannavale his son. Dan Fogelman directed and wrote it. A pleasant choice for anyone who likes character comedy and narratives of late reckoning. For a viewer expecting surprise, the film takes a familiar road.