Road to the Lemon Grove Parent Guide

This film is currently only screening in Canada.

Have you ever been to an event – a school concert, an amateur theatrical performance – where someone is performing so badly that it’s embarrassing to even be in the audience? If so, you know what it’s like to sit through Road to the Lemon Grove. As I watched its star, Charly Chiarelli, chew the scenery and generally behave like a buffoon, I winced, scrunched up in my seat, and desperately wished I were somewhere else.

The Road to the Lemon Grove is on a difficult journey, with a recycled plot and a weak starring actor. It tells the well worn tale of Antonio Contatini (Charly Chiarelli), a dead Sicilian father who is being denied entry to heaven by God (voiced by singer Loreena McKennitt) until he repairs his relationship with his son, Calogero (also played by Charly Chiarelli).

Antonio’s going to have a difficult time fixing this toxic father/son dynamic from beyond the grave. Calogero is so angry with his father that he spends the beginning of the film in a state of (poorly acted) rage – ranting in the street, breaking small figurines with a baseball bat, and even raising his fist to punch his father’s corpse in his casket. And when Antonio’s ghost materializes in front of him, the two have a fistfight in the funeral home. Luckily, Antonio has a solution: his will requires Calogero to return to Sicily to scatter his ashes in the family’s lemon grove, which will presumably soften his heart and heal the breach. But there’s a complication. The lemon grove was owned by Antonio’s late wife, and her family, the Pescaris, have never given up their claim to the land. Can Calogero’s trip to Sicily (accompanied by his father’s ghost) mend a fractured family, end a feud, bring happiness to everyone, and admit Antonio to heaven?

Frankly, the plot holds few surprises – except for Calogero’s implausible good luck in finding romance with a stunning movie star (Rosella Brescia). The most interesting parts of the film are Calogero’s musings on the relationship between language and identity. But this is a surprisingly intellectual detour in an otherwise mindless film. What kept my attention focused on the screen were the incredibly beautiful locations in Sicily. I didn’t stick around for the credits, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this film were lavishly subsidized by Sicily’s tourism department. Watching the movie is enough to put Sicily on anyone’s bucket list.

Gorgeous images of Sicily aside, there aren’t many reasons to watch Road to the Lemon Grove. There is a fair bit of clownish violence, and a significant amount of profanity. There isn’t explicit sexual content, but there is a cringeworthy subplot involving Calogero’s cousin, Guido Pescari (Nick Mancuso). There is some early telegraphing of his sexual orientation (he carries a man purse) but once he arrives in Sicily, the script really starts to wink at the audience. He kidnaps the Contatini family lawyer, Mauro (Marco Perfetto), and keeps him tied up for a few days. The two discuss his workout regimen, and when the story is resolved, Guido races back to Mauro, removes the gag in his mouth, and kisses him. The men then become a couple. Using homophobic stereotypes for humor simply isn’t funny and is acutely distasteful.

As for positive themes, there are plenty to be found here. Making peace with family members, forgiving past wrongs, expressing affection to loved ones, defusing long-held conflicts, appreciating one’s ethnic heritage – all of these are valuable messages for viewers of any age. Sadly, the road to these messages is littered with terrible acting and a hackneyed plot and is unlikely to be well travelled.