Illusion Great movie Mr. Douglas is amazing I got this on recommendation from a freind and I was not disappointed. If you like movies with a message you will probably like this one. The main character reminds me of myself when I was bold and did crazy things for the girl I loved.
The Truth of a Deathbed Wish In a race against time it is the regrets of our lives that bring the most pain.
When legendary film maker Donald Bains grants his last interview he is dying from cancer. Once a powerful and successful film director and producer, he is now an old man isolated from friends and family. He has made a fortune creating romantic movies but his own life has been full of sacrifice, work addiction, and choices made from his escape into a career that is now gone. The only thing he wants is to know what happened to his illegitimate son Christopher whom he saw once from a distance.
Christopher was the result of a one night stand between Donald and a wanna be actress who herself didn't want to be a mother. Donald has always wanted to know what happened to his son and his death wish is granted.
Donald awakens to meet Stan, his favorite editor, who died 35 years earlier in a car accident. Stan shows Donald three film reels from his son's Akashic records, or soul history. The first is Christopher as a teenager, the second as a young 20 something goth, and then the third as a 30 something ex-con who dies in a back alley. Donald demands to Stan to help him rewrite the final picture in order to give Christopher a chance at the one thing Donald never had ... love.
The one thing Christopher had that Donald never did was a true love with Isabelle. Christopher falls head over heels with Isabelle the moment he sees her as a teenager on his bike. He tries to romance her with poetry until her football playing boyfriend freaks out. Isabelle re-enters Christopher's life a decade later only to vanish again. Ten years later, both older and wiser and weary, does Christopher have one final chance to be with Isabelle ... but only with his father's help.
[[ASIN:0349113602 The Last Time They Met]] [[ASIN:B0000844LU The Weight of Water]] [[ASIN:B00007G207 Cinema Paradiso - The New Version]]
A moving film about how life is not a movie or a dress rehearsal, how we only get one shot to enjoy life, and how putting work first before what is truly dear to our hearts is the most unkindest cut of all. The father's actions and inactions leave a lasting impact on his only child which only an act of loving redemption can erase and restore.Kirk Douglas Gives an Incredible Performance This movie was made on a shoe string budget by a novice director (who also acts the co-starring role). It is a haunting love story and a tale of dying with regret and opportunity for redemption. Kirk Douglas apparently was persuaded to act the role of the dying film director as a favor for the director, Michael A. Goorjian, who had struggled to raise the funds. However, the incredible acting of Kirk Douglas makes this a Holywood Hit (mispelling intended)! He is eloquent, humorous, and tragic, all-in-one. Oscar material. What an amazing performance, despite his physical challenges! I also loved the supporting cast...it was a roller coaster of tragedy, yearning, grief....and yes, a classical happy ending (unusual nowadays).
