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An Ancient Catholic Order of Priests, Long Lost Conspiracy Theories, and The ‘Miracle’ Olive Tree of 19th Century Sicily are what spark the deep imagination of the mind behind religion Novakovic. But a desperately ill lawyer suffering from a life-threatening disease goes seeking a miracle curing tree in Ante Novakovic’s devout drama which I believe is slowly being uncovered in the narrative. During the most recent screening at The SoHo International Film Festival in New York City, it became apparent Leaves of the Tree had a lot more underlying issues than world-wondering inspirational traits mixed with swords and sorcery conspiracies of Catholicism.
The evergreen Eric Roberts plays the role of heart aneurysm Patrick, a pharmaceutical lawyer with an unknown illness. So when his company was notified of a miraculous Sicilian olive tree, which exhibits wonders in the prologue set in the early 1800s does set the tone of Roberts being a seasoned veteran on screen. Powering through congestive heart failure must be hard, I wonder what stuffing him and others like him into a cramming airplane would do to them.
Sweetness aka Sean Young plays the best friend of Patrick, Joe aka Armand Assante portrays a Profoundly Trusted Companion of Roberts while Marisa Brown takes up the role of an ever-peppy yet revealing company executive. She then meets the mystical Dr. Ferramonti (Federico Castelluccio, best known as Furio in The Sopranos) only to discover that he is one of those who have been blessed with the miracle tree’s unimaginable magic.
Instead, Don Diego (Ozman Sirgood), who has shown up at the secluded Sicilian town notorious for his spending habits, along with a group of priests looking to explore some old church ruins, has complicated matters. It becomes evident soon enough that what they actually seek is to stop the tree from being accessed by outsiders. His spending habits heavily suggest that he has access to the resources of the Vatican. For instance, him not batting an eye at Roberta’s demand of 100 million dollars to stop pursuing the tree’s healing ointment was quite telling.
Easily makes sense of the tree price, said that it can do anything from curing a hangover to even curing infertility. Even Patrick’s condition which was quite severe. His swift recovery from a life endangering attack after getting a salve rubbed on his chest whilst in a hot spring was something he was able to do. Both Sweetness and Roberta have stated without hesitation, ‘We have never looked more gorgeous. Our hair and skin are amazing.’”
Incorporating into the romantic blossoming narrative of Roberta and handsome ex-seminarian Hank (who also happens to be the director’s brother and one of the film’s producers Kresh Novakovic), the movie gives leaves of the tree that never fully captures one’s full attention. The movie stops focusing on Roberts for extensive periods and the screenplay by Novakovic and Healey focuses on the secondary characters way too much and only early Castellucio’s doctor who astonishingly looks younger than he is, seems to care.
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