“When 13-year-old Vanessa experiences her first breakup, she rebounds by following the boy to his stifling prep school, where she receives the only minority scholarship for her Yup’ik background. Landing at the bottom of the school’s social ladder and confined to the weight room during P.E., she begins to rally with the other school misfits, including an animal-loving boy with overbearing parents, a girl named Nothing, and a pathological liar claiming Puff Daddy is her father. Vanessa’s attempts to find herself and win back the love of her life flounder, until she’s presented with an opportunity to captain the oddball team for the school’s bastardized version of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics—the Snowstorm Survivor competition.

Suzi Yoonessi’s delicious debut makes the life of her Alaskan teenage heroine as colorful and sweet as a snow cone. Confected with heartbreak and humor, Vanessa journeys from the fantastical world of unicorns, rainbows, and shadow puppets to the uncertain reality of adult complications, discovering that real friends can be just as fantastic as imaginary ones. A true underdog story, Yoonessi’s tale of compassion and camaraderie is certain to recall one’s own bittersweet memories of the delicate transition to adolescence.” (official festival synopsis)

The opening credits of DEAR LEMON LIMA might lead you astray. They overflow with sugary graphics and drawings that recall the worst of high school notebook doodles. Director Suzi Yoonessi, in her feature debut, peppers the rest of the film with these sweet little sketches, but they never overtake the film, and never allow DEAR LEMON LIMA to sink into cutesy hell. Eventually, the candyland of imagination created by our leading little lady, Vanessa Lemor, is shattered, and the cupcake-y art that’s previously enveloped her is the only thing keeping her and her misfit friends afloat. But before all that can happen, Vanessa has to get her heart broken.

Vanessa works at an ice cream stand in the middle of a field. It’s called “The Sweetest Bean,” and it’s decorated with all sort of paraphernalia documenting her love story with “human rights activist” Philip Georgie. Philip is great, until he dumps Vanessa, simultaneously dumping a soda on her, and leaving her marooned.  Particularly marooned because she’s about to start at his high school, which she’s only attending because of Philip. Thanks, Philip.

At Nichols High, Vanessa falls in with a motley crew of other misfits, while Philip flits around with the popular kids, occasionally throwing her a wink or a nod or a sign language sentence. When Vanessa finally wakes up to the fact that Philip is not only not charming, but actually a total chode, she starts to find herself. In her very first role, Savanah Wiltfong infuses Vanessa with a strange sweetness, never letting her seem weak, even when she’s making desperate collages consisting of destroyed love letters to Philip or bleaching out her hair. Vanessa is the sort of girl that, watching on screen ten years after high school, you can’t help but think, “ohh, I wanted to be her in high school.” Except, you didn’t. You wanted to be someone like blond mental lightweight Megan Kennedy. Ten years later, yeah, you want to be Vanessa.

In the third act, DEAR LEMON LIMA takes a risk. It’s shocking and somewhat maddening and very sad. The fact that a previously fluffy film doesn’t fall flat on its face after such a switcheroo proves that Yoonessi knew along what she was doing. DEAR LEMON LIMA was never fluff – fluff couldn’t hold this up. In the end, DEAR LEMON LIMA is not airy cotton candy, sweet and unsatisfying. It’s a hot fudge sundae, hot and cold and sweet and salty and soft and hard, all at once, all delicious.