Directed by: Andrew Davies Gans
World Premiere: Dances With Films – TCL Chinese Theatre, June 20, 2025
Runtime: 102 minutes
Reviewer: Valerie Milano, The Hollywood Times
By Valerie Milano
Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/19/25 – “Making a film about your father forces you to look in the mirror,” says filmmaker Andrew Davies Gans, and in VOICES: The Danny Gans Story, he does just that—with unflinching honesty and heartfelt reverence. Part biography, part memoir, and part emotional excavation, this documentary offers a rare glimpse into the life of legendary Las Vegas performer Danny Gans, while doubling as a personal journey of identity and healing for the son he left behind.
Click below to see our exclusive interview:
As one of the films at this year’s Dances With Films, VOICES arrives not just as a tribute to a lost icon but as a cinematic meditation on grief, legacy, and the silences we inherit.
Structured with a poetic rhythm, the documentary weaves archival footage, backstage clips, home movies, and intimate interviews with Andrew’s narration. The result is a multi-dimensional portrait of a man who dazzled audiences with his vocal impressions yet remained a private, even mysterious figure at home.
“I found closure—I said goodbye on my own terms,” Andrew reflects in the film and in our interview. VOICES invites the audience into that process of goodbye: the unpacking of myths, the honoring of sacrifices, and the reckoning with unanswered questions surrounding Danny’s sudden death in 2009.
But the film doesn’t only linger in loss. It celebrates life—specifically, a life lived boldly, imperfectly, and fully in service of family. Danny Gans turned down national stardom to remain in Las Vegas where he could be a present father and husband. “Vegas was his whole world,” Andrew explains. “He never needed national fame… He chose Vegas so he could come home nightly.”
The tension between public persona and private struggle is handled with sensitivity and restraint. While Andrew acknowledges moments, he “agonized over—including Dad’s health decline,” he ultimately included them to help viewers face their own unspoken family histories. “His story can help others talk about their health struggles,” he says.
What emerges is a deeply moving act of remembrance—not hagiography, but humanization. And through it all, we watch Andrew step out from under the long shadow of his father’s legacy and into his own creative light. “The title VOICES is layered,” he says. “It nods to Dad’s voice-driven art—but also to the voice I’ve reclaimed in telling this story.”
Technically, the film is polished yet personal. The editing is sharp, the score understated, and the cinematography never overshadows the emotion. There’s a quiet confidence in the pacing—a sign that this is a filmmaker who has lived inside his subject matter long enough to know when to push forward, and when to let the silence speak.
Perhaps the most profound moment comes not onscreen, but in life: during production, Andrew welcomed the birth of his daughter Charlotte—on Danny’s birthday. “It was a miraculous gift,” he shares. “Sleep is scarce, but we’re so blessed.”
⭐ Verdict: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)
VOICES: The Danny Gans Story is a masterful directorial debut and a soul-stirring tribute to a father, a performer, and a legacy of love. Andrew Davies Gans crafts a film that dares to ask: What do we inherit, and what do we choose to become? The answers echo long after the credits roll.
Click here to learn more: gansrockproductions.com
Follow Andrew on Instagram: @gans_andrew
VOICES will screen Friday, June 20 at TCL Chinese Theatre, Dances With Films 2025.
