Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Em (Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake) arrive in Malia, Greece for a rite-of-passage holiday that will see them drink to excess, party...
Tara , Em and Skye arrive in Malia, Greece for a rite-of-passage holiday that will see them drink to excess, party - and in Tara's case, losing her virginity. Amidst the raucous partying and overtly sexualised environment, Tara begins to see her friendship and the nature of sex in a new light when she meets Badger and Paddy ...
Teenage holiday movies have thus far been primarily been used for cheap laughs and humour. As much as they're fun and outrageous, they're also laced with a sometimes uncomfortable, even sinister edge that is often revealed in the hypersexualised environment. In 'How To Have Sex', there is no elder admonishment or even guidance of a sort.
Molly Manning Walker's script and direction keeps the details relatively clear, allowing the audience to fill in the blanks on the nature of the three main characters' relationship, and where each of them are. Much of the story, however, zeroes in on Mia McKenna-Bruce, previously seen in minor roles in the likes of ''.
The editing and the cinematography play key roles in defining the emotional landscape, with Mia McKenna-Bruce very often framed in such a way as to highlight both her diminutive frame but also her insistence of doing everything the same as everyone else. She bounces around the screen in the early part of the movie. Yet by the end, we can see her character has gone through a full transition in a truly heartbreaking scene with Shaun Taylor, preceded by a disturbing one with Samuel Bottomley.
'How To Have Sex' is sometimes a deeply uncomfortable watch, yet there's a warmth to it at certain points that highlights it. One extended sequence finds Mia McKenna Bruce's character fall in with another group of revellers and it turns into this beautifully evocative, carefree thing that is then immediately tempered by the next night where we see the exact opposite.