親愛的檸檬女孩（美國/2009年/喜劇）
語言：英語
有著豐富的想像力13歲尤皮克族女孩凡妮莎莉莫，某天被她的真愛——聰明絕頂的14歲男孩菲利普喬治——提分手了。這個暑假，孤單的凡妮莎在阿拉斯加費爾班克斯的冰淇淋店打工，滿腦子是被甩的傷心事。
她想盡辦法忘掉美好回憶，卻總是不成功，便決定去菲利普就讀的尼克斯學院把他追回來。尼克斯學院是一所保守的私校，喬治家族在那裡擁有顯赫的影響力。
凡妮莎贏得了唯一的少數民族獎學金之後入學，卻發現新生活有如惡夢。菲利普在法國過了一個暑假，學了一口流利法語回來，在學校晉升為當紅人物，凡妮莎卻淪落到私校底層階級，與其他一樣沒藥救一群人被歸為同類。這些人裡頭包括了：可愛但不善交際、被父母過度保護的海克力斯；她宣稱自己的父親是吹牛老爹，說謊成性的14歲女孩珊曼莎；家裡經營連鎖葬儀社，本名為瑪德琳、但去法院申請改名為「沒有」的胖女孩。凡妮莎目前唯一的慰藉，是菲利普決定擔任她的學生顧問。菲利普為了祝福她，再一次強調兩人都重視的價值觀，亦即個體性及社會良知的重要，還有以另類生活來追求更好的明天。不幸的是，凡妮莎誤會了菲利普的論述，在開學典禮上發表一篇無政府主義演說，造成人人對她敬而遠之。更糟的是，她是新生裡唯一被選上參加校內暴風雪生存競賽的人，而且還是隊長。這項活動的靈感來自世界愛斯基摩人與印第安人運動會。
凡妮莎深信贏得比賽就能贏回菲利普的心，她找來舉重室裡其他的沒藥救一群，成立了「沒藥救」小隊來參加比賽，團隊為了幫凡妮莎追愛而勤加訓練。然而尼克斯學院的暴風雪生存競賽與原民奧運非常不同，不是聚集各色人種來歡慶阿拉斯加原民文化，反而偏離了傳統愛斯基摩競賽，以維持舊日的階級系統。
悲劇意外奪走了一名隊友的生命，凡妮莎終於找到愛的真諦，也欣然接受自己的原民血統，並重新找回世界愛斯基摩人與印第安人奧運會的精神。沒藥救小隊在最後的舞蹈競賽奪得勝利，尼克斯學院的學生也引發一股思想新潮流。
西方文化已失去了傳統價值，奧運會成了競逐「第一名」的場域。《親愛的檸檬女孩》說的是生命就該用來歡慶彼此的共同點與不同之處，鼓勵善良、個體性與平等，這一切都在一名13歲女孩的日記裡。
Synopsis 2 (THR)
13歲女孩凡妮莎莉莫（新人薩凡娜威特馮飾演）擁有愛斯基摩尤皮克族血統，住在阿拉斯加費爾班克斯，正在面對青春期的情緒起伏。她還摸不清楚自己的位置，更不巧的是，她那個自我中心的富家子男友、14歲的菲利普喬治（演技突出的夏恩托普飾演），竟然在暑假一開始就跟她提分手。
菲利普從法國度假回來，凡妮莎對他的痴迷只是有增無減，讓媽媽看了擔心。凡妮莎決心追回男友，設法在他就讀的貴族私校取得少數民族獎學金。凡妮莎的愛斯基摩血統總算還是有用的。
入學之後，凡妮莎經常被送到舉重室，校內沒藥救的學生都被往那裡頭送，其中包括一個為自己改名為「沒有」的女孩，一個自稱生父是吹牛老爹的女孩，以及凡妮莎的鄰居，一個好脾氣、身體虛弱、受到父母過度保護的男孩。菲利普把新女友甩了，她也來加入沒藥救一群。
凡妮莎找了舉重室的同伴，一起組隊參加校內的暴風雪生存競賽，比賽的原型是世界愛斯基摩人與印第安人奧運會。影片後段類似《新少棒闖天下》，情節發展不難預期，一場悲劇放大了年輕人日常生活的關切，讓青春體驗明顯可見，也扭轉了本片的喜劇調性。
女主角每天給想像中的朋友「檸檬女孩」寫日記，導演以此串聯起片中各個事件。凡妮莎眼中的世界是個放大的臥房，裡頭有糖果愛心和卡通兔子。年輕的她仍為荷爾蒙和同儕壓力所困，本片的轉折點在於她學會與這些情緒相處，並了解到原來菲利普是個討厭鬼。
導演：蘇西尤娜斯
製片：梅麗莎李，喬娜科唐利
製作公司：Sanguine Film, Love Sad
演員：薩凡娜威特馮，夏恩托普，梅根潔特馬丁，梅莉莎李奧（《燃燒鬥魂》奧斯卡最佳女配角得主）
獎項：
2009年安克拉治國際電影節最佳新進演員特別獎，薩凡娜威特馮
2009年羅德岱堡國際電影節獨立精神獎，蘇西尤娜斯
2009年洛杉磯電影節最佳演出，夏恩托普
2009年洛杉磯電影節最佳敘事劇情片入圍，蘇西尤娜斯
2010年方法電影節最佳整體演出
2010年舊金山國際亞美電影節最佳敘事，蘇西尤娜斯
2009年聖保羅國際電影節最佳劇情長片，蘇西尤娜斯
2009年伍士塔影展最佳敘事劇情片，蘇西尤娜斯
2014年好萊塢青年獎最佳新進男演員入圍，夏恩托普
2009年好萊塢青年獎傑出表現獎入圍，梅根潔特馬丁
影展：
洛杉磯電影節（敘事類競賽最佳演出獲獎）
倫敦電影節
羅馬電影節
聖保羅國際電影節
突尼斯國際電影節
新罕布夏電影節
費城電影節
夏威夷國際電影節
吐芬奴電影節
羅德岱堡國際電影節
CMJ音樂與電影節
薩凡娜電影節
安克拉治電影節
哥特堡國際電影節
奧馬哈電影節
舊金山國際亞美電影節
布孚國際兒童與青少年電影節
克里夫蘭國際電影節
納許維爾電影節
亞特蘭大電影節
索諾瑪國際電影節
明尼亞波利斯聖保羅國際電影節
獨立精神電影節
極光電影節
茲林電影節
伯克郡國際電影節
湖邊電影節
Cine Sparks澳洲青少年電影節
哥本哈根BUSTER兒童電影節
巴西人民影像電影節
國家地理頻道All Roads電影節
里穆斯基國際兒童電影節
羅馬尼亞Festival KinOdiseea 兒童電影節
維爾紐斯國際兒少電影節
台灣國際女性影展
首爾國際家庭電影節
薩拉索塔Cine-World電影節
影評：
• 「可能是我看過最可愛的一部電影。」——Bust雜誌
• 「粉蠟筆的色調，友善的小兔子，再加上一匙糖……就構成了私校喜劇《親愛的檸檬女孩》」——好萊塢報導者
• 「優美構圖和豐富畫面，為蘇西尤娜斯創造的世界抹上一層糖果般的色彩，荒野與郊區生活在此交匯，片中角色既有天真無邪的情感，也經常帶點當代的諷刺氣息」——綜藝報
• 「如同夏日裡的棒棒糖一樣清新」——洛杉磯時報
• 「一封裹著糖衣的情書，寫給苦樂參半的憂傷青春。尋找身份認同在青春時期往往帶來傷痛，但終究能踏上坦途。本片對此有著相當成功的處理。」——Flavorpill LA
• 「如果《拿破崙炸藥》 多一點溫情，結果就會像這部描述高中怪咖的甜蜜又聰明的喜劇。」——Time Out London
• 「初執導演筒的蘇西尤娜斯，將她的青春期日記變成一部趣味的怪咖喜劇，出色且毫不矯飾。」——衛報
• 「《親愛的檸檬女孩》是一部討喜又原創的青少年影片」——Indiewire
• 「……新鮮又原創，而且非常討喜……」——Indiewire
• 「《親愛的檸檬女孩》在古怪中綻放美感，棉花糖般的色調，米蘭達裘麗式的幽默，並將疏離視為創意的來源。」——Slant雜誌
• 「女孩的愛歌加上莎夏戈登以音樂盒及弦樂為主的配樂，讓本片給人飄飄然的感覺。」——綜藝報
• 「初看蘇西尤娜斯的作品，第一會注意到銀幕上生動的小動畫。」——filmschoolrejects.com
• 「本片也充滿色彩，無論天然或是人工色彩，從凡妮莎不斷改變的髮色到原住民服飾，還有一名神秘塗鴉藝術家在鎮上散播愛的話語。」——filmschoolrejects.com
花絮：
• 由擁有愛斯基摩尤皮克血統的新秀薩凡娜威特馮主演。
• 「伊朗裔的蘇西尤娜斯肯定了解凡妮莎的歷程，但她作為導演的眼光才是最突出的。」——filmschoolrejects.com
• 「蘇西尤娜斯表示，《親愛的檸檬女孩》部分靈感來自她的青少年時期，有些畫面甚至直接取自她的『貼滿彩虹的日記』。本片雖不是自傳電影，但的確有自傳成分在內。」——安克拉治日報
• 「蘇西尤娜斯的父母為伊朗移民，因此她的確能理解本片主角凡妮莎的心境。」——安克拉治日報
DEAR LEMON LIMA, (USA/2009/COMEDY)
DEAR LEMON LIMA,
Language: English
Vanessa Lemor, a lonely 13-year old Yup’ik (Western Eskimo) girl with a vivid imagination, is
dumped by her true love, über intellectual Philip Georgey, 14. Vanessa spends the summer in Fairbanks, Alaska, working at an ice cream shack and obsessing over the heartbreaking tragedy.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts at erasing fond memories, she resolves to win Philip back at Nichols Academy, a close-minded preparatory school where the Georgey family is legacy.
Awarded the only minority scholarship, Vanessa’s new life is a nightmare. Back from the summer abroad and fluent in French, Philip is elevated to popular status, while Vanessa is relegated to the bottom of the prep school caste system with the rest of the “FUBARs” (a cruel Dear Lemon Lima, acronym for those deemed “F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition”).
Rounding out the rest of the FUBARs are Hercules, a loveable, but socially inept boy with wildly overprotective parents, Samantha, a 14-year old pathological liar who claims her father is Puff Daddy, and Nothing (formally known as Madeline), a plump heiress to a funeral parlor chain who has legally changed her name to a pronoun. Vanessa’s consolation prize is Philip’s decision to honor Vanessa by being her student advisor.
Philip, wishing the best for his pupil, reinstates the values that once brought them together – the pursuit of individuality and embracement of a social consciousness: an alternative lifestyle for a better world. Unfortunately, Vanessa misinterprets his preaching, and alienates herself by presenting an anarchist essay at the opening school ceremony. To make matters worse, she is the only freshman captain elected for the school’s infamous Snowstorm Survivor competition, an event inspired by the Native events in the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.
Vanessa believes that a victory in the Snowstorm Survivor championship is the only way into
Philip’s heart. She quickly forms a quirky team with her fan base in the weight room. Team
FUBAR prepares for the event, driven by Vanessa’s plight for her true love. Unlike the Native
Olympics that brings together people of all sizes and shapes to celebrate Native Alaskan culture, Nichols’ Snowstorm Survivor simply perverts the traditional Eskimo games in order to foster an antiquated class system.
After the tragic loss of a beloved teammate, Vanessa discovers the true meaning of love and
must embrace her Native heritage to reclaim the spirit of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.
After Team FUBAR’s sensational victory in the final dance competition, the Nichols community attempts to embrace a new wave of thinking.
Traditional values have been lost in Western culture. The World Olympics are a competition
that celebrates being “number one.” Dear Lemon Lima, thrives off the notion that life is a time to come together and celebrate our common traits and differences, inspiring kindness,
individuality and equality, values kindled by the diary of a 13-year old girl.
Synopsis 2 (THR):
In her first professional role, Savanah Wiltfong plays Vanessa Lemor, a part Yup'ik Eskimo, going through the emotional throes of a difficult adolescence in Fairbanks, Alaska. She doesn't quite know how she fits in, a situation made more acute when her preening, wealthy and self-important boyfriend, Philip Georgey (Shayne Topp, very good), at 14 her senior by a full year, casually breaks up with her at the start of summer vacation.
By the time he returns from a sojourn in France, her obsession over him has grown all the worse, to her mother's distress. Vanessa determines to win him back when she gains a minority scholarship -- that Eskimo heritage counts for something at least -- to his snotty prep school.
Here she finds herself constantly sent to the weight room, a repository of all the school's FUBARs (the cruel acronym for those "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition"). These include a girl who has changed her name to Nothing, a girl who claims her father is Puff Daddy and 'Nessa's next-door neighbor, a cheerful boy with health challenges and overprotective parents. Her ex's new flame, who also gets dumped, eventually joins the FUBARs.
Vanessa chooses these weight-room buddies to be on her team for the school's Snowstorm Survivor competition, an event apparently based on the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. This diverts the film a bit into "Bad News Bears" territory with predictable results.
What tips the comedy though is a tragedy that throws the adolescent experience into sharp relief that magnifies the quotidian concerns that shape the lives of young people.
The heroine writes daily to her imaginary friend, Lemon Lima, which is the narrative clothes line on which Yoonessi hangs the film's episodic events. Vanessa sees the world as an overgrown bedroom with candy hearts and cartoon rabbits. She's still a young girl coping with the onset of hormones and peer pressure that confuse her. The arc of the film is her getting a grip on these emotions and learning to deal with them -- and realizing that Philip Georgey is "a piece of work."
Writer/Director: Suzi Yoonessi
Producers: Melissa Lee, Jonako Donley
Production Co: Sanguine Film, Love Sad
Cast: Savanah Wiltfong, Shayne Topp, Meaghan Jette Martin
Melissa Leo (Academy Award® Winner, The Fighter)
Awards:
• Savanah Wiltfong, AIFF Special Award for Best Emerging Talent, Anchorage IFF, 2009.
• Suzi Yoonessi, Spirit of the Independent Award, FT Lauderdale IFF, 2009.
• Sayne Topp, Outstanding Performance, Los Angeles F, 2009.
• Suzi Yoonessi, Best Narrative Feature Nominee, Los Angeles FF, 2009.
• Best Ensemble Cast, Method Fest, 2010.
• Susi Yoonessi, Best Narrative, San Francisco Intl Asia American FF, 2010.
• Suzi Yoonessi, Best Feature Film, Sao Paolo IFF, 2009.
• Suzi Yoonessi, Best Narrative Feature, Woodstock FF, 2009.
• Shayne Top, Exciting New Face – Male Nomine, Young Hollywood Awards, 2014.
• Meaghan Martin, Standout Performance Nominee, Young Hollywood Awards, 2009.
Reviews:
• "Possibly the cutest movie I've ever seen." - Bust Magazine
• "A spoonful of sugar, to say nothing of bright pastel colors and friendly bunny rabbits, helps the medicine go down in the... winning prep school comedy Dear Lemon Lima,." - The Hollywood Reporter
• "...beautiful compositions and super-lush lensing bring a candy-colored sheen to Yoonessi's universe, where wilderness and suburban life meet, and semi-innocent nostalgia commingles with the characters' often sarcastic contemporary sensibilities." - Variety
• "As refreshing as an Astro-Pop on a summer's day." - LA Times
• "A candy-coated love letter to the bittersweet heartbreak of youth, the film is a compelling treatment of the often painful yet triumphant quest for identity during adolescence." - Flavorpill LA
• "If Napoleon Dynamite had had a bigger heart it may have turned out like this sweet and smart comedy about high school misfits." - Time Out London
• “The debuting Suzi Yoonessi ably remains the right side of twee in turning her adolescent journal into a delightful misfit comedy.” – Guardian
• “Dear Lemon Lima“ is a Delightfully Original Teen Movie – Indiewire
• „“.... it’s actually a completely fresh and original work, and a delightful one at that…” – Indiewire
• Dear Lemon Lima is a quirky beauty of a film with its cotton-candy colors, Miranda July-esque sensibility, and its embracing of alienation as a source of creativity. – Slant magazine
• Girly songs and Sasha Gordon’s inspired music-box-and-strings score keep the pic’s head in the clouds. – Variety
• “Juno meets Napoleon Dynamite” – Variety. (This is used in their trailer).
• The first thing that stands out about Yoonessi’s film are the small animations that come to life on the screen. – filmschoolrejects.com
• The film is also filled with colors, both natural and man-made, from Vanessa’s constant hair dyes, to native costumes, to a mysterious graffiti artist spreading words of love around town. – filmschoolrejects.com
Trivia:
• Stars newcomer Savanah Wiltfong, who is part Eskimo (specifically Yup’ik).
• Yoonessi is Iranian-American which most assuredly helped in her understanding of Vanessa’s journey, but it’s her eye as a filmmaker that shines the brightest here. – filmschoolrejects.com
• "Dear Lemon Lima" draws in some ways from Yoonessi's own adolescence, she said, even taking images directly from her "rainbow-studded diary." While it's not an autobiographical film, she said, it does have autobiographical elements. – Anchorage Daily News https://www.adn.com/arts/article/film-fest-offers-tale-two-alaskas/2009…
• Yoonessi, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Iran, can relate to Vanessa, the film’s heroine. – Anchorage Daily News https://www.adn.com/arts/article/film-fest-offers-tale-two-alaskas/2009…
