Would have made a better Twilight Zone Episode

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2006)

I was very disappointed after seeing the trailer and being a big Edward Norton fan to be presented with this rather mediocre piece. What could have been a rather enjoyable film if it had stayed on this side of the illusionist/spiritualist line became rather laughable when ghosts started appearing on stage (or even off stage in the case of the boy). The fun for me in this would have been if the _illusions_ had stayed at least plausible, *illusions*! For instance, the Orange Tree. Paul Giamatti, was, as expected, flawless (it does a heart good to see an interesting looking person for a change instead of variations on Ken & Barbi). The film looked fabulous and I thought it was a nice variation on American produced period films *not* to use Britain or America but Eastern Europe for its setting. However, all in all, I think Rod Serling would have been better able to present this plot in 50 minutes on an old Twilight Zone episode.