Appropriate Behavior

Appropriate Behavior

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Desiree Akhavan
Produced by Cecilia Frugiuele
Written by Desiree Akhavan
Starring
Music by Josephine Wiggs
Cinematography Chris Teague
Edited by Sara Shaw
Production
company
Parkville Pictures
Distributed by Gravitas Ventures
Release dates
  • January 18, 2014 (2014-01-18) (Sundance)
  • January 16, 2015 (2015-01-16) (USA)
Running time
 90 minutes
Language English

Appropriate Behavior is an American comedy film, which premiered on January 18, 2014 at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.[1] Written and directed by Desiree Akhavan, the film stars Akhavan as Shirin, a bisexual Persian American woman in Brooklyn struggling to rebuild her life after breaking up with her girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson).[2]

The film's cast also includes Scott Adsit, Halley Feiffer, Anh Duong, Hooman Majd, Arian Moayed and Aimee Mullins. The film had a theatrical release on January 16, 2015 in the US[3] and was released on March 6, 2015 in the UK.[4]

Plot

Brooklynite Shirin, the daughter of well-off Persian immigrants, is left homeless and jobless after her girlfriend Maxine breaks up with her. With the encouragement of her friend Crystal she moves in with strange roommates and gets a new job teaching 5 year old Park Slope children the art of movie making.

Shirin's parents are confused as to why Maxine moved out of her old apartment as Shirin has never told them she was bisexual and dating a woman. Determined to get her life back on track, Shirin begins trying to follow Maxine, hoping to rekindle their relationship. After seeing Maxine is now dating Tibet, a fellow teacher at the Park Slope school where she works, Shirin realizes that they are never going to get back together. She devotes herself to her work and comes out to her brother, who is mostly supportive, and her mother, who is in denial.

On the subway, Shirin tells Crystal that she again plans to bring up the issue of her sexuality with her mother in a month. She sees Maxine outside the subway car on the platform and the two women wave goodbye to one another.

Cast

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 98% of positive responses from the critics.[5] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film holds an average score of '75', based on 16 reviews, indicating a 'generally favorable' response.[6]

David Rooney in his review for The Hollywood Reporter praised the film by saying that "The promise of fresh cultural perspectives gives way to a more amorphous slice of contemporary romantic angst comedy."[7] Ryan Gilbey wrote in the New Statesman that Akhavan is "a whiz at writing characters whose life seems to extend beyond their brief screentime."[5] Katie Walsh of Indiewire grade the film B+ by saying that "Funny, unique, and entirely inappropriate, Appropriate Behavior is a supremely satisfying and irreverent take on the New York rom-com."[8]

Accolades

Year Group/Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2014 30th Independent Spirit Awards Best First Screenplay Desiree Akhavan Nominated [9]
San Diego Asian Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Won [10]

References

External links

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