Appropriate Behaviour (15)
three stars
Dir: Desiree Akhavan
With: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson
Runtime: 86 minutes
DESIREE Akhavan, better known to fans of HBO's Girls as Chandra, here appears as writer, director, star (and for all we know caterer) in her own comedy. Shirin (Akhavan) is a first generation Iranian-American, a Brooklynite, and bisexual. Bereft after a break up, Shirin recalls how it all went wrong, how it always goes wrong, in an effort to find peace. Calls to mind Frances Ha, and the whole enterprise is basically a rebooted Sex and The City, but Akhavan is funny and engaging. You'll be seeing a lot more of her on the strength of this.
Glasgow Film Theatre, March 6-12. Q&A with Desiree Akhavan, March 7 (17.00); Odeon, Glasgow Quay, March 10.
Hyena (18)
three stars
Dir: Gerard Johnson
With: Peter Ferdinando, Stephen Graham
Runtime: 112 minutes
ALBANIAN gangsters, trafficked women, bent cops - Gerard Johnson's crime drama, the opening gala at Edinburgh last year, does not so much tickle the corrupt underbelly of contemporary London as give it a vicious kick. All of which would be mightily depressing if not for the touches of pitch black humour and the blistering performances, particularly of Peter Ferdinando as Michael, a cop who could never be confused with Dixon of Dock Green, and Stephen Graham of This is England and Boardwalk Empire fame.
The Boy Next Door (15)
one star
Dir: Rob Cohen
With: Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman
Runtime: 91 minutes
JENNIFER Lopez stars as a high school Classics teacher - stop sniggering at the back - having neighbour trouble in this schlocky thriller that somehow escaped a straight to DVD release. Lopez plays Claire, a recently separated wife and mother whose interest is piqued by the buff 20-year-old next door after he proves himself a dab hand at fixing garage doors. Somehow resisting the lure of stress free garage door opening for years to come, Claire soon starts to have second thoughts about the strangely intense Noah (Ryan Guzman). Even if you can stomach the cliches and the by the numbers ways of generating tension, the sexual politics of the piece - middle aged women, know thy place - are enough to stink the place out.
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