Who better to make a film about a middle-aged, mediocre white Jewish man than a young, talented black woman? This very obscure concept is the central driving force behind Lemon, the first feature-length film from wunderkind filmmaker and auteur Janicza Bravo, which she wrote with her husband Brett Gelman, who also plays the lead role in the film. Lemon is the kind of film I absolutely adore – an absurdly odd and bleakly hilarious comedy with existential crises and a lot of awkward interactions with people who are seemingly more normal than our main character. It isn’t any surprise that Lemon has come to be seen as one of the year’s most audacious films, and one that I found hilarious and charming and uncomfortably awkward quite often.

Isaac (Brett Gelman), as I’ve said before, is a mediocre, middle-aged Jewish man living in Los Angeles. He is a pretentious acting coach and lives with his blind girlfriend Ramona (the always incredible Judy Greer). When Ramona decides that she can do better than the untalented Isaac, she decides to leave him after ten years together, and Isaac is forced to reconsider his position in life, and try and navigate a world he doesn’t fully understand, where he is an uncomfortable outsider in a world that just functions well to an extent, while he just stands on the outside looking in. His various encounters with other characters prove to accentuate how deeply detached Isaac is from reality – one of his students, Alex (Michael Cera) has progressed to a level of talent beyond that of his teacher, his parents (Rhea Perlman and Fred Melamed) are bitter in their middle-class golden years, and the rest of his family (Shiri Appleby and Martin Starr) form a dysfunctional, suffocating presence around the deeply troubled Isaac, who is just lost in an unforgiving world, where not even a brief romance with the beautiful Cleo (Nia Long) can help him move forward. Isaac is lost, and he doesn’t know where he is headed other than the grave, and he knows without a shadow of a doubt it will be a long, uncomfortable and deeply depressing journey there as he comes to terms with the fact that he is just nothing special.

Did I mention this film was a comedy?

I love existential dread in films – I absolutely adore it. I consider myself quite an optimistic nihilist at times, and Lemon is the kind of film that feeds that admiration to the minutiae of life, the driving force behind trying to understand what small cadences and nuances of our lives make us truly human. Taking their cues from many cinematic inspiration, Bravo and Gelman craft a film that is filled with hopeless desire, where our main character, someone who we are not supposed to care for on face-value, as he is just a selfish, childish naif, just searches for some kind of meaning and tries to find a place where he belongs. He is a character that doesn’t understand the world, but not for a lack of trying. He tries to appear like a normal, functional member of society, but he comes off as detached, sullen and self-centered to the point where he even drives his own good intentions away from him. He is a character that is a deeply complex character study of the plight of the ordinary individual who simply wants to find some meaning in the seemingly endless void of perplexing moments that occupy our lives, or else we will inevitably just end up alone, just like Isaac, who spends the last few moments of this film watching his average car, the last remaining loyal companion he has, be towed away, just like his life with inevitably be taken away from him because he failed to understand how to live it properly.

Once again, this film is a comedy.

Brett Gelman has been one of the most fascinating comedic actors of the past few years, and I have watched his career, mainly consisting of roles where he has small supporting roles, with great interest. Lemon, like I mentioned in my review for The Big Sick, is the kind of independent film designed as a starring vehicle for an actor that is mainly thrust into the background to make way for bigger stars. The joy of independent cinema is that the stars of most of our films tend to be far from the typical star formula that composes generic Hollywood films. Gelman is an eccentric and unconventional leading man, yet he gives a performance that stands as one of the best of the year. Wearing a dull brown suit and hopelessly outdated eyeglasses, Isaac is an average loser with aspirations of stardom. Throughout this film, Isaac remains static – the same clothing and the same dull expression on his face throughout. His lack of emotion (at least on the surface) helps create the uncomfortable realization that despite his outward appearance indicating a painfully normal man detached from the world, he is undergoing extreme inner-turmoil that threatens to render him completely distant from anything and everything he holds dear. Gelman is a very funny actor, and Isaac is a role that requires his deadpan awkwardness to play alongside this character’s complete mediocrity to create a painfully cynical character that leaves you laughing in complete and utter discomfort.

Isaac has several encounters with other characters, some of which are played by some exemplary members of the comedic world. Michael Cera’s performance as the overly-ambitious and utterly arrogant Alex is delightful, as is Gillian Jacobs’ hard-working, unheralded Tracy. It is always a delight to see Rhea Perlman and Fred Melamed on screen, both serving to be comforting character actors who always imbue their projects with a unique humour.  Judy Greer is a welcome presence and serves to be a rapidly-rising independent cinema icon. The cast is given characters that are fascinating and emotionally resonant, while still working in conjunction with the film’s very awkward and dark tone. It is one of those rare ensembles that just work well together, each performer giving a solid and dedicated performance that makes them stand out while simultaneously drawing them closer to the plight of our central character.

In terms of technical prowess, Bravo made sure to give Lemon a unique look. By her own admission, she was inspired by the works of the likes of John Cassavetes, Woody Allen, and Hal Ashby in terms of how this film was constructed. The meandering beauty of average Los Angeles forms the basis of the film, where the backdrop of a world-famous city being shown to be just the location of one man’s nervous breakdown, makes the city seem like another character in Isaac’s narratives. The editing and cinematography may not seem strikingly beautiful at first, but through the subtle nuances added to this film through the technical flourishes, the audience experiences something very unique that you only truly realize once this film has ended. The score is eclectic and very odd, but works well in the context of this film – it doesn’t quite fit into the film, just like how Isaac doesn’t quite fit into the world. It is an experimental film that sees the talented Bravo playing around with the format of feature-length filmmaking, which results in something wonderful.

Lemon is the kind of film that flies under the radar, mainly because it doesn’t have a traditional premise that hooks audiences. It is a polarizing and very odd film that may leave viewers puzzled beyond belief. However, beneath the surface is a deeply personal, fascinating and hilarious story about human existence, and even if our main character is far too unlikable, he has his endearing qualities. Overall, Lemon is a wonderfully-made film with outstanding performances, and solidifies Janicza Bravo as a talent that we need to keep our eyes on, and Brett Gelman can hopefully gain a status as a reputable, unconventional and highly talented actor who deserves better roles, because Lemon is undeniably one of the best (and most bizarre) films of the year.