| Citrus Lemon | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Liam Casavan |
| Starring |
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Production company | Liechtenstein Productions |
Release date |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $214 |
Citrus Lemon is a 2024 American independent comedy film written and directed by Liam Casavan in his directorial debut. The film stars an ensemble cast including James Archer, Sophia Thelen, Maxwell Mar, Matthew Rucker, Jake Torres, Austin Wright, Lyla Williams, Amanda Zener and Jack Schroeter. The plot, told in a hyperlink structure, tells of five interconnected stories supposedly set in Iceland of 3048: of the President of the United States, a sweet and oblivious girl, a gang of five with delusions of political power, a realtor who tries to become a coin collector, and the owner of an inept motel.
The film was shot on an extremely low budget of only $214, primarily in the director's hometown of Sammamish (with additional scenes shot in Issaquah and Bellevue) in just under a month. It premiered at the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle on December 21, and was later uploaded to YouTube on Christmas. It was later shown at various film festivals the following year and has since become a cult classic.
Plot
editThe film begins with a scene set in England, 932 AD, featuring Lil Tay’s death—a sequence quickly interrupted by the director, who declares it has nothing to do with the story. The narrative resets to Iceland, 3048, where three initially independent tales unfold:
The President of the United States travels to Iceland to meet Sonny Borg, a sweet yet oblivious “moe” archetype. While Sonny questions the President’s motives, the two bond over small talk about anime and horror movies. However, the President is interrupted by a gang of five delusional criminals who believe they are the rightful leaders of America. After an escalating argument, the gang stages a siege on Sonny’s home, forcing the President and Sonny to defend themselves using laser guns conveniently hidden in a closet. As their fight unfolds, there is an abrupt cutaway to a low-budget nature documentary about a Madagascar ground boa. The President and Sonny are able to defeat the gangsters.
Meanwhile, Amanda Hugandkiss, a struggling realtor for a China-centric real estate company, decides to pursue coin collecting after an inspirational dream. After failing to meet her impossibly high sales quota of 9.5 million homes and revealing embarrassing secrets about her boss, Amanda is fired. Desperate, she fraudulently takes on a new realtor job to make ends meet, which leads her to Sonny’s home. Instead of discussing insurance, Amanda awkwardly tries to sell her coins, prompting Sonny to kick her out.
Another thread follows Dirk Lebowski, the owner of the Atlantic City Motel, an absurdly incompetent $26-a-night establishment with boarded-up windows, filthy carpets, and a ditch for a pool. At the insistence of his wife Katie, Dirk embarks on a quest to find an out-of-print DVD of Armageddon. After a series of absurd events, a man throws the DVD at Dirk, who brings it home, only for Katie to call the movie “the worst thing she’s ever seen.” Disillusioned, Dirk decides to rebrand his motel, shutting down the casino and hiring an eccentric new clerk, Franz Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff.
The storylines collide when Sonny and the President, looking for shelter after the siege, check into Dirk’s motel. Despite warnings about the “sleazebag” establishment, they book a room (Room 128) and endure a series of inconveniences, from missing toilet paper to seeing strangers’ feet under the door. Amanda, also desperate for a place to stay, accidentally receives the same room key due to a communication error. She sneaks into their room while they’re asleep and steals their belongings, including computers and phones, prompting a police investigation. The situation escalates when Dirk is arrested after fentanyl is discovered in the room, and his motel is sold for one cent.
In the aftermath, Amanda joins the gangsters, using their resources to fuel her coin-collecting obsession. Meanwhile, the President learns that his high school rival Marco is now a radio host in Iceland. Their feud stems from an incident where Marco peed in the President’s cereal, leading to a petty confrontation. Sonny, caught in the middle, leaves after realizing both are clinging to clichéd movie tropes, though she later reconciles with the President before he departs Iceland.
The film ends with an epilogue text: “The gangsters are now living it up in Luanda, Angola. The President was impeached for building a wall around every Little Caesar’s. Sonny continued her life as normal.”
Cast
edit- James Archer as The President of the United States
- Sophia Thelen as Sonny Borg
- Amanda Zener as Amanda Hugandkiss
- Jack Schroeter as Dirk Lebowski
- Maxwell Mar as Bob
- Matthew Rucker as Henry
- Jake Torres as Jack
- Austin Wright as Caden
- Lyla Williams as Olive
- Kayla Campbell as Katie Lebowski
- Liam Casavan as Franz Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff
- Noam Ostfeld as Marco
- Lachlyn Glasgow as The Boss (named Nancy in the script)
Production
editMuch of the production of Citrus Lemon has been chronicled in the documentary The Making of Citrus Lemon and How We Got There!, a short documentary that was included on the Criterion Collection release of the film. According to the documentary, the film began life as a short film that would solely consist of the first storyline in the final film, in which the President of the United States visits a woman's house while a siege occurs from gangsters. During a trip to Albuquerque, Casavan had been reminded of an inept hotel in Billings called the Vegas Hotel which was called a "sleazebag motel", and upon reading various reviews he found humorous he incorporated an inept motel directly based on the Vegas. He also discovered his stepfather had a realtor who became a coin collector, which also was incorporated into the story. The rest of Dirk's storyline involving the quest for the Armageddon DVD was directly based on an event that occurred to his mother in her childhood (though in real life the search was for Christmas with the Kranks).
Casavan cited two of his personal favorite films, Magnolia (with it's narrative structure) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with it's comedy style and postmodern elements) as particularly influential on the film.
Filming was initially meant to commence during the week of November 22nd, however on the 19th a violent windstorm in the Puget Sound region left hundreds of thousands without power, so filming was delayed. The film was initially meant to also star Casavan as the President, but he later stepped down and swapped positions with James.
Music
editThe film's soundtrack is a diverse mix of songs from various eras. The soundtrack was published as a digital download shortly after the film's release on Spotify . Originally, the film's ending credits featured "The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals but, possibly due to copyright, in later releases the ending credits featured the songs "Subways of Your Mind" by Fex and "Vaseline" by Elastica. The film also features songs such as "Under the Milky Way" by The Church (used in the opening credits), "Sleep Walk" by Santo & Johnny (used in the first scene of Dirk searching for the Armageddon DVD), "Cool Water" by Sons of the Pioneers (used when The President and Sonny book a room at the Atlantic City Motel).
Release
editImmediately after the film was completed, the film was privately premiered at the Grand Illusion Cinema on 21 December 2024, to an audience of the main cast, director, and some additional personalities. Four days later, on 25 December (Christmas) the film was uploaded to YouTube. As of 1 January 2026, Citrus Lemon has amassed over 1 million views online. Throughout 2025, the film was screened across 25 film festivals around the world, in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Norway, North Macedonia, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. This significantly boosted the film's popularity.
Reception
editAnalysis
editCitrus Lemon has received much analysis since its release, particularly for its satirical and postmodern qualities. Many critics have described the film as a landmark postmodernist film, a belief that has been confirmed by Casavan. In an interview he stated:
“What it’s really about is to call attention to the fact that movies are a constructed reality, regardless of how ‘real’ they may feel. Here, it breaks the fourth wall between us, the audience, and the screen, and emphasizes absurdity so that it’s too obvious what we’re watching is far from realistic. In doing so, it fundamentally challenges the cinematic rules that have been established in classical filmmaking.”
Commonly cited postmodern elements include the film's fourth wall breaks, blending of genres, intertextuality, pastiche, and a disrupted narrative.
The film has also been analyzed from a satirical perspective. Though according to interviews not all of the film's satire was intentional, many critics have pointed out its commentary on office culture, politics, crime, and overall American society (despite it's Icelandic setting, which has led to some speculation that the film is actually not set in Iceland but in another country, though these rumors have been denied).