Before I get to discussing the plot of "Illusion", I should point out that the DVD, amazingly, is NOT captioned in any way (at least the DVD I saw). This is a serious problem not just for people like me who are hard of hearing because the film stars Kirk Douglas AFTER his major stroke....and it's very difficult to understand him without captions. It's a shame, as I am thrilled they'd hire a disabled man but you might struggle to understand the film at times.
Douglas plays an aging movie director who will be dying soon. One day, he has what you can only assume is a dream or vision. In this experience, a man (is he an angel?) transports the director magically to a movie theater...complete with a bed for the director. The man shows the director three short films.
The first shows the directors son, Chris, as a teen who is smitten with a girl. It's a tad creepy the way he follows her and the story ends after Chris goes through hell trying to get the girl. It also turns out that the director abandoned the son, long, long ago.
The second film shows Chris about a decade later. He and the girl have gone their separate ways. He is a goth who works for a very self-absorbed no-talent performance artist. One day the artist announces to Chris, his assistant, that he saw the most amazing woman on the street and Chris' job is to find her and invite her to a big event. He's also told if he doesn't find her, he's losing his job and not getting paid! When Chris tracks her down with the clues the artist gives him, he finds it's the same girl from the first film.
In the third and supposedly final film, you see Chris again...about a decade later. He's just being released from prison and goes to the old town looking for the girl. He cannot find her but is befriended by a nice guy (Bryan Cranston) who invites him to his house for a party. At the party, he sees the girl...but it appears that she's married to this nice man and has his child. But is this all? Is there, possibly, a fourth reel?
The film is both very surreal in style and existential as it asks questions about the meaning of life. Both make it a film that many probably might not like, as it's anything but a Hollywood style film. It is something that might appeal to folks who like the films of Ingmar Bergman as well as Kurosawa's later films, as these two famous directors were some of the few who did films that explored these issues. Overall, a truly unique and interesting movie...one that you really should see if you want something different...or if you don't mind exploring your life and life choices.
