Not only do we fail to recognize beforehand how our actions may affect those around us, but also rarely- if ever- are we given a chance to see afterwards how our decisions have changed fate. How could we? Time moves forward mercilessly. There are no "re-dos" like in a video game. We can't simply pause, or better yet, rewind the story of our lives to fix a misstep we've made.  Yet knowing this, how many of us have secretly begged and pleaded for just one chance to change a past mistake?

That's why movies are so great. Maybe in real life we don't get the satisfaction of repairing our already messed up lives, but in the movies... It is possible. And that is what Illusion gives us- a chance to vicariously experience how we would fix our tainted, imperfect lives if we actually could.

Donald Baines (Kirk Douglas) is a successful and famous film director. He is also about to die. And as he lies in bed, attended to by the nurse who is his only companion, he thinks not of his artistic accomplishments or the fortune that he has accumulated during his career. He thinks only of Christopher (Michael Goorjian), the son he abandoned thirty years ago. Having seen his child only once through the pane of a car window, Donald drove away and out of his life forever. Now completely alone, with no one to love, Donald regrets his choice. Yet he recognizes only the void in his own life; he has no idea of how his decision has forever changed Christopher as well.

One night, Donald is awakened by Stan (Ron Marasco), an editor that he collaborated with some thirty years ago. The only problem is that Stan has also been dead for about thirty years, too. Once convinced that he is still alive and breathing, Donald receives a tremendous surprise and gift. Stan is going to show him scenes from Christopher's life. The son that he never experienced in the flesh he will finally have the chance to experience on-screen. Explaining that the significant events of our lives are forever recorded on film, Stan takes Donald to the theater for one final show. What Donald comes to realize, however, is that his choice to abandon Christopher has transformed his son's life into a saga of sadness and tragedy. Donald has been responsible for the outcome of many films over the course of his life, but never did he figure so prominently as in the story of Christopher Baines...

And can I just say how much I love Kirk Douglas? Last week, I caught him in Kubrick's Paths of Glory, and then I watched him in Illusion. Not only does this incredibly gifted actor have a career longevity of which few others can boast, but also he is at the top of his craft just as much now as he was then. Watching him was an absolute pleasure. He brings to the screen such sincerity- the genuineness of a father's anguish over the suffering child that he cannot help. Until he realizes that perhaps he can.

Once Donald recognizes the magnitude of his decision, of how his choice to walk away from Christopher has forever changed his son, he is told that there is yet time to film a happy ending. Waking up to the very day that he has just experienced hours ago, Donald realizes that Stan has given him a second gift, a chance to correct the past. With no time to spare, Donald sends off a message to the son he never knew, a message that just may save Christopher's life. And his own.

Okay, I'll admit that I'm being a little vague here. But come on, do you really want me to spoil the ending? I thought not. And besides, life doesn't work that way. You need to experience it for yourself.

So many of us put our blinders on when plodding along through life. We rarely take a look around to see how all of the million decisions we make over the course of sixty, seventy- or if we're really lucky- a hundred years finally add up. It's a little easier to see how those choices have affected who we have become, but how those same choices have affected others? Most of the time, that's just a fleeting thought. Illusion makes us take off those blinders and realize that no one goes through life truly alone. Just as a single stone thrown into a lake will create hundreds upon hundreds of ripples, so too do our decisions influence others far more than we could possibly imagine. Yet through this film, we are given hope that, no matter how many times we have failed or have chosen unwisely, we all have the chance to film a happy ending for the final act.

Anna Keizer is a film critic and writer in Los Angeles.