Desiree Akhavan (from HBO’s “Girls”) in “Appropriate Behaviour” (2015) looks at tensions between girlhood sexuality and social conservatism - starring herself as Shirin, a bisexual Iranian living in Brooklyn. While her high-flying brother blazes a career in medicine, twenty-something Shirin drifts from one job and one Brooklyn house party to the next. Although she desires to get along with her parents, her feelings of isolation at traditional Persian family gatherings, her break-up with her girlfriend and her non-existent career are all off-limit topics. Ms Akhavan looks incisively at the identity politics beneath New York’s supposedly free urban youth culture (her ex-girlfriend Maxine repeatedly accuses her of being a mere “tourist” lesbian) and the burden of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” relationship with conservative parents. While her parents could have been fleshed out a little more, we end up understanding Shirin’s desire for distance, arrested development and well-meaning secrecy. For although she finds herself having to live up to the expectations attached to multiple identities, she sees its complexity as natural, and continues her messy self-discovery. This, Akhavan implies, is growth, as opposed to the safety in labels that both Western and Eastern societies seek in their different ways. A fresh talent to watch out for in the world of multicultural US indie cinema - and a thoughtful piece of filmmaking.