Dear Lemon Lima

If ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ had had a bigger heart it may have turned out like this sweet and smart comedy about high school misfits. Nerdy 13 year old Vanessa is dumped by her boyfriend because he wants to get in with the popular clique. She, on the other hand, ends up hanging out with the school’s FUBARs (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition), a motley crew of off-beat yet endearingly believable outcasts. A classic triumph-of-the-underdog plotline unfolds, but the real joy of this delightful film is the spot-on incidental detail. As Miranda July did in ‘You And Me And Everyone We Know’, director Yoonessi observes her characters’ often odd behaviour from an unjudgemental distance, so depicting the messy business of growing up with a distinctive and authentic style.