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Root of the Problem
USA 2019
produced by Carolyn McMaster, Margot McMaster for Chaos, a Film Company
directed by Scott Corban Sikma
starring Sergio Di Zio, Claire Rankin, Jayson Therrien, Pete Seadon, Chantal Perron, Leslie Benn, Ty Loupelle, Dawn Nagazina, Anna-Marie Frances Lea, Jim Walsh, Stephane Legault, Dwight Layne, D'Arcy Browning, Wrama Willis, Stacey Da Silva, Shawna Pliva McGill, Denny Wiens
written by Francis Damberger, Joanne Sikma, music by Beau Shiminsky
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Paul (Sergio Di Zio) lives a reasonably happy life, he has a wife who
loves him, Grace (Claire Rankin), two nice kids, Kari (Leslie Benn) and
Landon (Ty Loupelle), a nice job, and he's pretty good at his job as a
realtor, even if it's not likely to make him rich, no matter how hard he
works. And there's the problem, being the sole provider of the family, the
money just seems to be constantly short, no matter how hard Paul works ...
and then Grace's rich uncle who loved her very much dies, and Paul's
looking forward to a nice inheritance - but all the uncle has left them is
a potted plant. This leaves Paul sort of shattered, not so much out of
greed itself but he had hoped for some financial relief. But then he
discovers the plant actually grows Dollar bills - and at first he grows a
bit paranoid about it, and doesn't even tell his own family about it. But
gradually he starts to enjoy the money and buys himself all kinds of
luxury objects, culminating in a new Porsche. Now Grace doesn't like the
new Paul who just spends and spends money without taking his family into
consideration (that said, she of course doesn't know about the money tree,
and Paul doesn't tell her), so that leads them to the brink of breaking
up. Not knowing what to do, Paul turns to the local pastor (Pete Seadon)
for advice, and the pastor tells him to try and do good with his wealth -
so Paul makes a big donation to the church, gives half a fortune to a
homeless person ... and eventually lands not only himself but also the
pastor and the hobo in prison. But the pastor advises it's never too late
to do the right thing, and if he succeeds everything else will resolve
itself. But that's easier said than done because Paul had made plenty of
mistakes even before he came in touch with the money tree ...
Sure, the message of Root of the Problem is a bit too
obvious - and pretty much hidden in the title already - and some of the
means to get it across are as heavy handed as they're formulaic, but that
aside, the film really does a good job to tell its story light-footedly as
the script just flows beautifully, both from a narrative and a cinematic
point of view, and all the characters are actually well-fleshed out and
nicely brought to life by a solid ensemble cast, with extra praise going
to Sergio Di Zio who plays the lead character with just the right amount
of both arrogance and vulnerability to make him utterly relatable despite
of his flaws.
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