Humor and poetry have equal space in this enchanting reminiscence of a sultry, dreamlike boyhood summer on Chios in 1960. It is a portrait of a developing friendship in a window of time without constraints, though not without cares, that is given to children as a gift of the seasons and ends all too soon. The tree of the film's title is one whose bark is cut so that the gum may drip out like jewels-or like tears. But that is all the symbolism we get in what is actually an unassuming and unsentimental look at childhood: our narrator-hero befriends one Runny-Nose Vangelis, a.k.a. The Cat Strangler, and this gives a good idea of the kind of dares, challenges, and flirtations they indulge in. This is a first film by a talented young director (who also portrays the village lunatic), filming with a folk-naive sensibility and using non-professional actors from the island.