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IMDb: 6.6
The opening scene shows us a frantic man in a
house that is trashed. He's watering a tree in his
backyard that's almost completely dead, except for
a single branch with a few green leaves hanging on
for dear life. As the camera zooms into his face,
the man turns around and we see his mouth has been
tapped. If he speaks a single more sentence, he
will die. But how did he end up in this situation?
The scene shifts back a few weeks ago. Jack McCall
is a literary agent whose job is to find talented
writers and sell their books to publications.
Jack is an amazing businessman and an even more
talented talker. He is known among his colleagues
for being able to talk anyone into doing anything.
Jack also has a beautiful wife Caroline
and a one year old son who he loves dearly
but he often neglects his family for work.
Caroline is used to taking care of the baby
on her own and is tired of her husband’s
nonchalance towards his family duties.
One morning in his office, Jack finds out that a
famous spiritual guru Dr. Sinja is in the city. A
book written by him would definitely be a superhit
and bring in a lot of money, which piques Jack’s
interest. He pitches the idea to his team who are
skeptical if a spiritual leader will sign a deal
with them but Jack reminds them how amazing
his persuading skills are. The very next day,
he books a meditation session with Dr.
Sinja in hopes of meeting him. However,
when it comes to the actual meditation, he is
unserious and distracted. Just when the session
is about to end, Jack pretends to be overwhelmed
and is taken aside by Dr. Sinja himself.
As they chat, Jack cleverly tells him that
he wishes to spread the doctor’s work to the
world in the form of a book. Dr. Sinja realizes
Jack’s intentions and walks into his backyard,
uninterested in his offer. The backyard has a
sacred Bodhi tree which gives Jack a splinter
when he tries to touch it. The men dismiss
the tiny wound and continue talking about
Jack’s offer. After he explains how much
he respects Dr. Sinja and his teachings,
the guru finally agrees to work with him.
A thrilled Jack cancels his schedule for the
rest of day to visit his mother and tell her
about his recent success. She lives in an old
age home and has dementia which causes her
to frequently misname her son. Jack had never
had a good relationship with his late father,
Raymond. Hence, when his mother calls him
by his father’s name, he is visibly upset.
The day gets even worse for him in the
evening when he and Caroline get into
an argument. Caroline wants to move into a
family-friendly neighborhood so their son
can grow up in a better environment but Jack
doesn’t want to leave the bachelor pad they
live in. He instead suggests they paint the
studio room to turn it into a kid’s nursery.
In the middle of the argument, the couple
feels the ground shaking. Within seconds,
the entire house starts moving and a Bodhi tree
grows out of nowhere in the backyard. Jack looks
at the magnificent tree, dumfounded, and
realizes that it looks identical to the
tree that gave him a splinter. It even
has the red mark that the original tree
had. He eventually comes to the conclusion
that Dr. Sinja sent it to him as a gift.
The following morning, Jack is thrilled
to receive Dr. Sinja’s book that he thinks
will make him millions. However, his plan
goes in vain when he finds out the book is
only five pages long. Assuming that Dr. Sinja is
playing a joke on him, Jack goes to his ashram,
only to find out that the spiritual leader wants
to keep the book short. He argues that this is a
breach of contract but Dr. Sinja remains adamant
in his decision. As they chat, Jack brings up
the tree in his backyard which piques Dr. Sinja’s
interest. They go to his house to check it and see
that a branch has no leaves while the rest of the
tree is green. After inspecting it for a while,
Dr. Sinja comes to a shocking revelation; Jack’s
life is now tied to the tree. Every word he speaks
will cause a leaf to shed which means when there
are no leaves left, his life will end as well.
Jack freaks out and tries to ax the tree
down but ends up hurting himself. This is
when it is revealed that if the tree
is harmed, Jack will suffer with it;
he has no way to save himself other than to
stop speaking entirely. Dr. Sinja promises to
help him after consulting his colleagues in
Bolivia, but even that will take three days.
The next morning, Jack wakes up from a nightmare
and tries to leave a note for his wife. It doesn’t
take him long to find out that every word he
writes will also make a leaf fall. In fact, if he
tries to communicate with anyone in any way, the
tree will reciprocate. In the following scene, he
hopelessly goes to work and comes across several
hurdles in the way because of his new disability.
The barista gives him wrong orders of coffee and
he causes an accident trying to save a blind man.
However, the day only gets worse for him at
work when he is introduced to an important
investor who he cannot talk to. As he tries to
get through the conversation, two squirrels start
climbing up the tree at home. As a result,
Jack feels ticklish and starts laughing,
making a fool out of himself. Later that day,
he brings his assistant Arron to a meeting,
hoping that he can communicate with the
investors. In the middle of it, Jack sweats
profusely because of the tree being watered at
home. The investors try to ignore the elephant
in the room but the meeting ends in a disaster
because of Arron’s lack of communication skills.
After a long day, when Jack finally reaches home,
Caroline tries to talk to him about their
relationship. She takes his silence as anger,
causing a bigger argument and walking out with the
baby. Within only a day of living with the curse,
Jack has lost his biggest investors and his
family is hanging by a thread. The reality
of it all hits him like a storm, making
him feel helpless. He tries calling Dr.
Sinja in Bolivia for an update and wastes
several leaves, but doesn’t get an answer.
The next day, Caroline makes a final attempt to
salvage their marriage by calling Jack to a hotel
room for a steamy night. He sees her waiting
for him in lingerie and excitedly enters the
room. But things start going downhill soon
when Caroline asks him if he loves her. All
Jack can say is the word “yes” which pushes
Caroline to leave him for good. Right after,
Jack has to go to yet another meeting with the
investors who he blew yesterday. This is the final
chance he has to impress them and apologize for
the previously failed meeting. Although nervous,
Jack does his best to fit in, but luck just
doesn’t seem to be working on his side. At home,
the gardener sprays pesticides on the Bodhi tree.
This causes Jack to cough uncontrollably.
Nonetheless his boss tries to keep the meeting
going before Jack gets high on the chemical
and stuffs her nose with a stick. This acts
as the last straw for the investors who no longer
want to associate with someone so childish. After
the meeting, Jack’s boss fires him, making
sure he is blacklisted from the industry.
At the end of the day, he frustratedly goes
home and calls his assistant Arron over. Using
a picture, he tries explaining
the situation to a poor Arron,
who finally gets it after several hours.
When he refuses to believe the curse exists,
Jack has to waste more words to prove himself.
After that, he keeps Arron incharge of observing
the tree and goes around the city doing random
acts of kindness. He feeds the poor, donates to
a church, and helps a cat stuck on a tree, all
while on the phone with Arron, but nothing breaks
the curse. Eventually, Aaron has to go back to the
office and Jack is left alone again. He helplessly
sits in front of the tree and meditates.
When relaxed, Jack imagines his
childhood. He remembers how he
had a happy family until his father left his
mother and abandoned him. Even years later,
he has not been able to forgive his father for his
deeds and it has always bothered him. Suddenly,
Jack wakes up from the relaxed state and
finds out Dr. Sinja is back in the town.
With eyes full of hope, he
rushes to meet the guru,
only to be told that nothing can be
done about the situation. Dr. Sinja
has asked every enlightened guru he knows
but no one has an answer. At this point,
all he can say is that Jack has to make peace
with something within him to break the curse.
Losing all will to live, Jack returns home and
resorts to drinking. Aaron comes to his rescue
and tries helping him but Jack has decided
to end his life by singing to a song. The
tree loses most of its leaves before Aaron
knocks Jack out and sticks a duct tape over
his mouth. As the camera pans towards the tree,
we see that only one branch of leaves are left.
The next morning, Jack wakes up knowing that
it is his last day on earth. He listens to his
heart and knows exactly what he wants to do with
the last few words he has left to speak. First,
he goes to Caroline and tells her he loves her.
He then helps a struggling writer who he has
been ignoring for months by buying his work
for ten thousand dollars. Next, he goes for
a walk on the beach and observes people living
their life. An old couple talking about their
love life reminds him of his childhood. Finally,
when it starts to get dark, he goes to his mother.
She mistakes him for his father again,
but this time, Jack goes along with it.
He listens as she happily reveals how successful
her son is and how proud she is of him. However,
there is one thing she doesn’t like about
Jack; he has too much hatred in his heart
and he refuses to let go of it. She knows that
he is suffering because of the grudge he holds
against his father and believes it is time for
him to let it go. Although Jack cannot speak,
he is left speechless. He finally understands
that no matter the amount of success he achieves
he will never be happy until he forgives his
father. Determined to do the right thing,
Jack tells his mother that he loves her,
leaving only the last three leaves on the tree.
In the following scene, Jack goes to his
father’s grave and in a moment of epiphany,
tells him that he forgives him. With his last
words spent, there are no leaves left on the
tree. Consequently, a sharp pain hits his chest
and he falls to the ground. A few seconds later,
his phone starts ringing and he picks it up with
all this strength. On the other end, Aaron tells
Jack he won’t believe what just happened. The tree
is magically green again and the curse is broken.
The scene changes to a few months later.
Dr. Sinja calls Jack to his ashram,
to congratulate him on writing a book. It
is called “A Thousand Words” and is about
Jack’s story and his relationship with his father.
After the curse was broken, he has turned into a
different person. He is now a family man who is
genuinely happy with his life. In the meantime,
Aaron has taken Jack’s place in the office and is
as arrogant as his boss was. He is soon about to
learn his own lesson which he will get from the
Bodhi tree that magically appears in his office.
Somewhere else, Jack surprises Caroline by
getting her the house she really wanted in
an area where their child can have a good life. He
has planted a Bodhi tree in the yard to remember
the lessons he has learned. The movie ends as the
couple plays with their child in their new house.
