Appropriate Behaviour

The female-fronted confessional comedy is given a Middle Eastern twist in writer/director Desiree Akhavan's sharply penned feature debut, in which she also stars. She's deliciously deadpan as a bisexual New Yorker who's unable to come out to her Iranian family. We meet her reeling from a break-up with her girlfriend (Rebecca Henderson) and hastily engineering a career change. This sensitively shot but enjoyably filthy film flashes back to the various stages of their relationship, from their antagonistic meet-cute, to their differing sexual and literary tastes, to our protagonist's refusal to make an honest parental introduction - all indicating that things were doomed from the off. Akhavan has a drier style than her peers and a more apparent soulfulness. She's entertainingly chaotic and her misadventures - although recalling both Obvious Child and TV's Girls - are honest and idiosyncratic enough for this to feel like a fresh take on wobbling your way through your twenties.