The Presbyterian Outlook

News and Articles from the The Presbyterian Outlook

Register Login Donate Subscribe

Top Search/Contact Area

  • Be A Fan

  • Follow Us

  • Photos

  • Pin It!

    • Home
      • About us
      • Advertise with the Outlook
      • Submissions
    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Editor’s viewpoints
      • What’s right?
      • About People
      • Calendar Check
    • News +
      Current Affairs
      • Outlook Reporting
      • Presbyterian News Service
      • Religion News Service
      • News from other sources
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
      • Benedictory
      • Guest commentary
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Those with ears to hear (music reviews)
      • He/She Said
      • Movie Reviews
    • Ministry Resources
      • Outlook Standard Lessons
      • Outlook Horizons Studies
      • Looking into the lectionary
      • Bulletin Inserts
      • Webinars
      • Hymns
    • Outpost Blog
    • Classifieds
      • Classified advertising

    Danny Collins

    April 12, 2015 by Ronald P. Salfen Leave a Comment

    Danny_Collins_Official_PosterFor Al Pacino to play a dissolute famous guy on the downslide was not exactly a stretch for him. But even toned down, he’s a force on the screen and you can’t not notice him. He plays Danny Collins, a fictional character who’s kinda sorta based on a real person (whom we get to meet during the credits).

    Danny Collins is an aging pop superstar who hasn’t written a hit in years, but his concerts keep selling out. It’s just that the people in the audience are all his “old” fans, and Danny Collins has never really wanted to appeal to old people. He’s lived a life of drugs, sex and booze, in between sold-out, glitzy, big-production concerts, where he is undeniably the rock star.

    But Danny Collins has been miserable for a long time. His current live-in girlfriend is young enough to be his daughter, and though she’s blatantly provocative and dutifully sexy, there’s no real love there. So Danny just drinks some more. And does more drugs. And generally makes himself into a mostly-functioning drunk who rarely realizes how obnoxious he is. His only real friend in the world is his long-time agent, Frank (Christopher Plummer), who tolerates all his foibles and still hangs around, even if he is getting paid for it.

    Danny’s life takes a sudden turn when Frank brings him a surprise: a letter written to him 30 years before by John Lennon, which never got to him. It seems Lennon was responding to an interview that Danny had done for an obscure magazine, in which he said he was afraid that fame and fortune would inhibit his true musical skills. John Lennon wanted Danny to know that it didn’t have to be that way. He could stay true to his musical self, with or without the fame and fortune. He signed it “Love, John and Yoko.”

    Apparently the letter had been sent to the long-ago-defunct magazine, which never bothered to try to forward it to Danny. Frank found it online, advertised by a collector in New York, and bought it as shocking surprise for Danny.

    It was a shock, all right. Somehow the “voice from beyond” of a young John Lennon causes Danny Collins to wake up to all those years he’s wasted being a selfish celebrity. He resolves to quit the boozing (which turns out to be harder than he thought). He decides he’s going to make contact with a long-lost son, the product of a casual liaison with a one-night-stand groupie, who never bothered him about it afterwards. That pilgrimage turns out to be extraordinarily difficult, because his son, Tom (Bobby Cannavale), is now grown, with a wife, Samantha (Jennifer Garner), and a beautiful but hyperactive young daughter, Hope (Giselle Eisenberg). Tom quickly makes it clear to Danny that he can’t just decide to be a dad now. It’s not that easy. And of course it isn’t.

    Nor is it easy for Danny to actually think about writing a song again (Pacino sounds like an older Keith Richards when he tries to sing). When Danny precipitously decides to quit touring and to try to live quietly in a remote hotel in New Jersey, Frank has a conniption fit, and not just because of all the money he’s forsaking. Part of Danny Collin’s redemption, not surprisingly, involves a mature woman, the hotel manager, Mary, played so appealingly by Annette Bening for us to hope that she can resurrect her career better than Danny Collins could. Meanwhile, we can’t help but enjoy the soundtrack of Lennon’s later work, toned-down and folksy, like Danny Collins thinks he wants to be. But compared to John Lennon, we’re all wannabes.

    Questions for discussion:

    • Is it possible to “re-invent” yourself in your older age?       What steps are necessary?
    • What would it take to “redeem” parts of your life that you thought were “unredeemable”?
    • What does Christian faith teach about redemption? Is everyone redeemable?

    Ronald P. Salfen is the supply pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Kaufman, Texas.

    ShareShare on Facebook
    Facebook
    Tweet about this on Twitter
    Twitter
    Email to someone
    email

    Movie Reviews

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Related Posts

    • Dark Water

      "Dark Water" is one of those creepy/tingly films that you don't think you want to see, then pulls you into its dreary, dank interior until you go home not wanting to turn on a water faucet. Jennifer Connelly plays Dahlia, a just-separated Mom in the midst of trying to work…

    • Kingdom of Heaven

      Yes, it's the Crusades, and the Church can't help but come off badly: you'll save your immortal soul if you'll go kill some infidels? But for those who love the Church, it's worse than that: early on, the parish priest goes to the blacksmith's shop to assure the young recent…

    • A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

      British humor: an ordinary bloke gets to tour the galaxies with hyperspace intergalactic travel, and all he can think about is that he can't get a good cup of tea anywhere. Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning in his ramshackle house in the country, only to discover that…

    Current Issue

    • December 9, 2019
    • November 11, 2019
    • October 21, 2019
    • October 7, 2019
    • Subscribe
    • Give a Gift
    • Read Online
    • Most Commented
    • Most Popular
    • What is the future of Stony Point Center?  Mission Agency Board to consider $10.3 million proposal A group within the Presbyterian Mission Agency considering the future of Stony Point Center is recommending spending at least $10.3...
    • Will Stony Point Center become a mission arm of the Presbyterian Mission Agency? A look ahead at this week’s PMA board meeting The leadership of the Presbyterian Mission Agency is proposing a new focus for Stony Point Center— moving from the current...
    • Board announces changes involving PC(USA) administrative services The board of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation met in closed session Jan. 16 and later announced it had...
    • Prayer for El Paso Enough, Lord God, enough. Rend our hearts and restore your goodness and mercy in our land. Through you, all things are...
    • Rachel Held Evans, Christian writer of honesty and humor, dies at age 37 (RNS) — Rachel Held Evans, a popular progressive Christian writer and speaker, died Saturday morning (May 4) at age 37...
    • Hymns for Advent and Christmas (Year A) Presbyterian hymn writer, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, composed Advent hymns based on the lectionary Scriptures set to familiar Christmas tunes and other...

    Keep the Faith

    Sign Up for Updates and Breaking News in your inbox

    Facebook

    Tweets by presoutlook
    Follow Us

    View Stories From

    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Calendar Check
      • About People
        • Anniversaries
        • Ordinations
        • Retired
        • Deaths
        • Transitions
      • Archives
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Movie Reviews
      • He/She Said
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
        • For Church Leaders
        • Faith Matters
        • Multichannel Church Report
        • #amen
        • Commentary
        • Benedictory
      • Liturgical Year
        • Advent
        • Lent

    The Latest:

    Solvitur ambulando

    December 11, 2019

    Presbyterians hold “die-in” to raise awareness of climate change

    December 11, 2019

    Minnesota church fights to keep member from being deported

    December 10, 2019

  • Tweet With Us
  • Be A Facebook Fan
  • Our World in Photos
  • Pin With Us
  • CONTACT US:

    1 N. 5th St., Suite 500

    Richmond, VA 23219

    T: 800-446-6008F: 804-353-6369

    [email protected]

    Or ▶ Fill Out Our Contact Form

    © Copyright 2019 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website Design by Poka Yoke Design

    • About us
    • Presbyterian Hub
    • Ministry Resources
    • Classifieds
    • Advertise with the Outlook
    • Submissions
    7ads6x98y