BOXING DAY
★★★
OUT 3 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 94 MINS
DIRECTOR Aml Ameen
CAST Aml Ameen, Aja Naomi King, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Marianne Jean-Baptiste
With winter romcom Boxing Day, British actor Aml Ameen turns his attention to writing and directing with mixed results. Taking inspiration from Ameen’s own life, the plot sees Melvin (Ameen) bring his American fiancée Lisa (Aja Naomi King) back to the UK to meet his relatives for Christmas, only to run head-first into family drama and his ex-girlfriend Georgia (Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock, impressive in her acting debut). The love triangle between Melvin, Lisa and Georgia is suitably prickly, and the cultural details (Melvin’s family are Caribbean) are lovingly captured by Ameen.