Customer Reviews

Danny in the Sky

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the 2001 French-Canadian film "Danny In The Sky," the title character (played by the adorable Thierry Pépin) is the 19 year old drop-out son of a fashion model mom who committed suicide and an aloof gay father. Danny tries to replace the love missing in his life with the attention and adoration given to fashion models, and aggressively seeks out success in that industry, even to the point of sabotaging (and nearly killing) a cousin who competes with him in one modeling contest. He also gets in and out of relationships with a couple of girlfriends based on how they can benefit or fit into his chosen career path. Eventually, it is a quick trip from modeling to acting in a straight porn movie and stripping in a club that caters to gay men, as Danny continues to try to find happiness.

The film is beautifully made, with good acting from an attractive cast throughout. The plot reveals a few potential side stories that would have been interesting if explored (such as the gay father forcing himself to "play it straight" for the sake of his son), perhaps more interesting than the story being told. It's not a gay film, per se, though obviously homoerotic in parts (such as the dance sequences, and in the porno film sequence, in which Danny plays a football player). Some may be bothered by the scene in which the father comes into the club where Danny is dancing and buys a private "lap dance" to talk to his son, before leaving the club with Danny's roommate. All in all, I'd rate this an "average" 3 stars, not really a bad film, but not likely to be in anyone's "favorites" list. The DVD offers three versions: the original French, the French with English subtitles or (the default) version dubbed in English. Sound quality and musical score is quite good.

I saw this movie only a couple of days ago, and already I hardly remember it. It's just not very good. The production values are quite fine, and so are some of the performances. But the main character is somewhat aggravating, and the plot goes nowhere. I was glad to see it end.

It's hard to see what point this movie is trying to make. In a way, I guess it's attempting to update and incorporate some elements of the 1956 movie "Tea and Sympathy," where a straight man is mistaken for gay. But now, nearly half a century later, it's time to move on, isn't it?

This is a powerfull dramatic tale of a sexy young aspiring male model who says he is straight, but yet finds every aspect of his life making him seem like he is in to the gay lifestyle. Danny (Thierry Pépin) is good-looking young man and has begun to use those looks to his benefit. He working as a model and stripper. Everyone thinks he's gay, and they certainly are given reasons to believe that he is. Even though his career and perfect appearance seem to make him happy, Danny has an openly gay father who despises his sons career path, and his mom used to be a model before she died of a drug overdose. So the question remains if he is gay? He will rebel against everthing and fight with his idenity crisis.

Thierry Pepin is a truly beautiful young man, with a great body and beautiful curly hair. This movie in which he stars is also beautifully shot and composed. Beauty, however, only takes you so far, and then you're faced with the utter stupidity of the screenplay of DANNY IN THE SKY. Danny is a young beauty, kept at arm's distance from his hunky repressed gay father and forever mourning his mother, a fabulous model and suicide. He suffers exquisitely, betrayed by his father, his girlfriend, and his handsome cousin, whose chances at winning a modelling competition away from Danny are scotched when Danny drugs his drink and puts him into a coma. Running away in horror at his own actions (this is the kind of movie where there are endless shots of the hero running away from something), Danny coveniently (and literally) bumps into the stripper who is a former boyfriend of another love interest, and then... oh, who cares. You get to see lot of shots of Pepin shirtless (which is wonderful) and also even more stupidly unlikely coincidences before the movie is mercifully over almost before it began.

There is one very good reason to watch this film: Thierry Pepin as Danny. He is one of the most exquisite boys on film, with a stunning body and a profound natural sexiness. He also happens to be a very good actor, a fact which might well be overlooked because his beauty and physical presence are so overwhelming.

Danny's life is gut-wrenching. He has been orphaned by the death of his mother. He is further alienated and wounded by the coldness and brutality of his frustrated gay father. In fact, there is not one unselfish or thoughtful person in Danny's life. Desperate to be loved, he uses his staggering looks to get it by modeling and, eventually, stripping in a gay club. Danny equates worship with love.

His father's distance and anger derive from a decision, supposedly for Danny's benefit, to `act straight' as he raised his son. It was an unfortunate choice for them both. His behavior is a study in the pathological effects of repression and, after one act of violence and cruelty too many, Danny leaves home for good.

Coldly rejected by his father, abandoned by his girlfriend, and betrayed by his cousin, Danny commits an irresponsible act of revenge which goes horribly awry. He immediately regrets it, but the damage is done.

Danny's degradation is complete when his father finally decides to embrace his homosexuality. But, truly malicious and hateful, he does so by sleeping with his son's only friend. Danny is now truly alone. One can only hope that Danny will live to find the peace and love he consciously, and so heartbreakingly, seeks.

The movie was excellent. I would highly recommend it to everyone. Danny's life is kind of screwed up, living life in the fastlane. He finds true love at the end.

This is a French-Canadian film, badly dubbed into English. I watched with the English subtitles on, and what the characters said rarely matched what the subtitles thought they were saying. Very bad paraphrasing of almost every sentence uttered.

As far as the actors go, not very good. The guys are young and attractive since they float around in a world of modeling, stripping, and porn. They might be pretty, but they're not very good actors. The nudity is minimal. I didn't buy any of the father-son scenes at all. It seemed to me that some scenes must have been cut. A whole subplot about the visiting cousin needed to be fleshed out.

This is not gay enough to be gay. And it's not straight enough to be straight. And it's certainly not good enough to be good. It's just dull and pointless.

This film may be getting advertised as a "gay film." However, the main character never professes to love men. He has a gay father and works at a strip club. Dr. Jachison Chan once wrote, "Why can't more cultural works be ambisexual?" I'm not totally clear on that definition, but I think it means something that seems gay, straight, and bi at the same time. A good example is the Vasquez character in "Aliens." I would have coded her as straight and masculine, but Dr. Judith Halberstam coded her as clearly lesbian. The main character in this film travels equally in gay and straight terrains. The ambisexuality of the work is laudable.

Sometimes movies imply that a main character is hot when he or she is not. Here, they truly picked a drop-dead beautiful actor to play the main role. The character wanted to be a model and so it makes much sense that they chose someone who looked like he could succeed on a runway. You get to see all of his body, and yes, even the best part, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure how well a Quebecois would do in Hollywood, but if he learned how to speak unaccented American English, Hollywood producers would be fools not to hire him five minutes ago. His beauty is truly astounding.

The conclusion of the film is a bit of a stretch. However, I rented this film as a fluke and feel serendipitous now. I recommend this for many viewers. Every five minutes something was happening that made me want to stay focuses and keep watchin. This film is truly a strong gem.

I thought this movie was very disjointed. It didn't do a very good job of connecting the scenes. The cinematography was excellent. But that couldn't save this movie from been very uninteresting.