Dear Lemon Lima

In the quiet town of Fairbanks, Alaska, introspective 13-year-old Vanessa Lemor spends her days pouring her heart out into the pages of her diary, and dealing with the pain of being recently dumped. While her ex-beau Philip reinvents himself as one of the popular kids, Vanessa remains stuck in a lonesome state of adolescent awkwardness, intent on winning back her beloved. Together with a gang of social outcasts called the FUBARs (short for ‘F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition’), Vanessa enters her school’s Snowstorm Survivor competition, an event inspired by the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, convinced that sporting victory will be her way back into Philip’s heart. Like the work of Sadie Benning or Miranda July, director Suzi Yoonessi’s loyalties lie solely with her band of misfits, and the film subtly details the alienation of not quite fitting in. While Vanessa’s pastel-coloured world of bunnies and love hearts creates a visual lightness, such aesthetic confections do not detract from the heartbreaking honesty that lies beneath the sunny surface. Critiquing notions of identity, whether it be through Vanessa’s unwillingness to engage with her Yup’ik (Western Eskimo) heritage, or her constant striving for peer approval, Dear Lemon Lima, consistently surprises and charms throughout, driven by an effortless performance from newcomer Savanah Wiltfong at the film’s centre. —bfi