Danny Collins(2015)

Danny’s (Al Pacino) efforts at taking his chaotic life in a new direction bomb when, at the one-night gig where he intended to show some of the new songs he had put up -inspired by the Hotel Manager Mary (Annette Bening) and his own family he became acquainted with-, suddenly the audience just goads him to sing “Hey Baby Doll”, the only one everybody cared for. The disappointment of seeing himself as washed-out and irrelevant causes him to relapse into doing drugs when he finds Sophie (Katarina Cas) and “Busy Work” (Brian Thomas Smith) backstage. Tommy (Bobby Cannavale) and his family come to see about him and the moment turns into a confrontation that ends sourly when Danny blurts out Tommy’s cancer diagnosis in front of Samantha (Jennifer Garner) and Hope (Giselle Eisenberg); as a result, Tommy disowns him once more. Furthermore, Mary breaks it off with him when she finds a disaster in Danny’s room, as well as Sophie and her beau sleeping there.

Coming to terms with his mistakes and, after a phone call from his manager and old friend Frank (Christopher Plummer) informing him that he needs to go on tour again due to financial problems, Danny checks out of the hotel; but, before doing so, he gives his Mercedes to Nicky (Josh Peck) the valet kid and lets Mary know how much he truly meant to her; also, that he left for her “something” back at the room, which turns out to be a song and the John Lennon letter, as gifts. Also, he has Frank deliver the piano to Tommy; Frank takes the opportunity to point out, through an anecdote in which Danny helped him sober up many years ago, that, despite being astray most of the time, Danny is a noble human being who cares about others.

The time comes when Tommy has to return to the Doctor’s office, to follow-up on the status of his illness. He finds Danny waiting for him there. They both go into the consultation room and, before the Doctor arrives, father and son share a tender reconciliation moment and Danny assures Tommy that, not only would he personally look after Samantha and Hope should things turn for the worst, but also that, if the Doctor calls him “Tommy” upon entering for the visit, it meant good news -as he swears he took note of, in previous visits-. The Doctor does step in, saluting him as “Tommy”, this lift up both of their spirits and the film ends.

As the credits start rolling, with one of “Danny’s” songs in the background, we see newspaper and interview clips of English folk singer Steve Tilson, who was the inspiration for the film’s plot, and his receiving the letter when he did from John Lennon, in 2005, 34 years after it being written to him.