Day 324 of the challenge! Ever wonder what a more arthouse (and less funny) Napoleon Dynamite would look like? Lemon is a pretty good guess.
On paper, Lemon is definitely my kind of movie. It’s full of dark quirk, weird characters, and dripping with all the real world awkwardness you could expect (and love) from an indie dramedy. Yet, despite all the ingredients being there, Lemon just doesn’t work. It’s as much of a lemon as it’s main (and creepy) character is.
One of the bigger points of films like Lemon (and the like) is for you end up connecting with the weird protagonist, despite their oddness. A strange connection is made between the audience and the character, be it relatability, affection, or something deeper and more personal. How we’re supposed to connect with a protagonist as creepy, racist, and disgusting as Lemon’s Isaac Lachmann is beyond me. Lemon at times seems to have the opposite affect on you, in that you want to see Isaac fail and continue to live his broken, “walking dead” life. There are hints of levity and comedy sprinkled throughout, but not nearly enough to make up for the flat ugliness of everything else Lemon offers you.