Written, starring and directed by young starlet Desiree Akhavan, APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR is her feature debut after a rather successful short TV series with The Slope, which – in its own words – focused around superficial, homophobic lesbians. In this film, she plays Shirin, who doesn’t find it easy being part of a so-called perfect Persian family.
For Shirin, acceptance is eluding her from all sides: her family doesn’t know she’s bisexual, and her ex-girlfriend, Maxine (Rebecca Henderson), can’t understand why she doesn’t tell them. Following a family announcement of her brother’s betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch, Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of pansexual escapades, while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine.
This lo-fi indie movie is already giving Akhavan the title of ‘next Lena Dunham’ but I think she’s probably just Desiree Akhavan and deserving of recognition for her own talents. Don’t you hate easy, modern media conjecture just looking to spin a fight that’s never going to happen. She’s even set for series 4 of Girls. Anyway, before I start a rant about incorrect portrayal, let’s concentrate on the more important things, this trailer for APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR is worth a watch:
APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR co-stars Rebecca Henderson, Scott Adsit, and Hailey Feiffer. It opens in the States on 16th January, it also screened at the London Film Festival in October of last year and we’re expecting to see a lot more of her in 2015.
Dan loves writing, film, music and photography. Originally from Devon, he did London for 4 years and now resides in Exeter. He also has a mild obsession with squirrels and cake. The latter being more of a hobby.
Favourite movies include HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, ROXANNE, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JURASSIC PARK, too many Steve Martin films and Nolan's BATMAN universe.
He can also be found on www.twitter.com/danbullock
