Al Pacino as Danny Collins: 'It's spring in my mind, but the autumn leaves they fall'

I've said this before - I love a good story. Well, here it goes. An unknown but promising musician  Steve Tilston gives a newspaper interview in 1971. He talks about the doubts about his future in show business and how he's afraid that the demands of the world and fame are going to crash his spirit and sincerity. None other than John Lennon reads the interview and writes a letter to the struggling artist, giving some advice and apparently, his home phone number. He doesn't adress it directly to Tilston, though, and the letter doesn't make it to the recipient. By some twist and turns of the universe, he gets it a couple of decades later and the question hangs in the air - what if...?

This is where we meet the character of Al Pacino, bored and tired rock star trying to do something more with his life. From this point on, the story is as simple as it gets, without any surprises or deep insights. One might even argue - too simple. But the master class of not only Al Pacino, but also Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Annette Bening and (news to me) Jennifer Garner makes the film, if not very good, very enjoyable. And to be honest, Pacino as a rock star with this 'Hey Baby Doll' nonsense didn't appeal to me at all. But when he sang: 'It's spring in my mind, but the autumn leaves they fall. As I'm walking by, I collect them all', I must say, he got me.