February 7, 2024
FILM: HOW TO HAVE SEX
DIRECTED BY: MOLLY MANNING WALKER
STARRING: MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE, LARA PEAKE, ENVA LEWIS
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Seeing a film like How to Have Sex in 2024 is a reminder of just how difficult being a teen in any era is thanks to the peer pressure surrounding sex. It’s a period of awakening for all of us but one that is fraught with disappointments, loneliness, and lots of confusion.
The film has already been quite celebrated in Britain where it was nominated for three BAFTA Awards (their equivalent of the Oscars) and several British Independent Film Awards. The title suggests the film is going to be a wild sex romp but it actually goes much deeper than that. During the early sequences, three teenaged British girls land in Malia (a city on the Island of Crete.) Their whole focus is to party, drink, meet boys, and get laid. Early on they come across as shrill and wildly immature. They smoke, drink, and wear sexy outfits at loud clubs that feature flashing lights, pounding music, and other teens, seemingly without a care in the world. (It’s a mature older person’s worse nightmare to watch…)
One of the girls, Tara, played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, appears to be quite ready for the challenges ahead with her one goal: to not die a virgin. However, the narrative and direction begins to single her out as the one character who is slightly timid and looking increasingly uncomfortable with the whole scene. She and her friends meet a couple of guys and one lesbian who are staying at a nearby apartment. Initially, there are some sparks, especially between Tara and one of the boys named Badger (of course that’s his name!) He seems like a sweet bad boy but then Tara witnesses him doing something on a club stage that turns her off. She then meets up with the other boy, Paddy. The next morning no one knows where Tara has ended up.
Writer/director Molly Manning Walker does a great job of establishing the outrageousness of this young partying world and then contrasting it with Tara’s own slow disillusionment with what she’s “supposed” to be doing at this stage in her life. She knows the “rules” of sex and how one attracts young men but she has never quite imagined how cold it would feel. There’s a great shot of her walking down an empty, garbage filled, main street, which had been host to all of the debauchery the night before. The thumping music and loud voices are replaced by almost complete quietness save for a few breezes. Tara is alone. What comes next for her? While her girlfriends and everyone else seem to be recovering, Tara is lost.
Mia McKenna-Bruce is quite astonishing in the role of Tara. Her initial scenes require her to scream when she talks with her scratchy voice but close-ups of her face, which beautifully capture her newly developed internal struggle, later replace this. She’s also able to master Tara’s transitions back to the party atmosphere to chase yet another empty series of highs. By the end of the film, her expressions suggest she is ready to re-evaluate the priorities in her life.
The other characters, while not nearly as developed, are all interesting in their own right. Tara’s friend Em is clearly exploring her interest in a same-sex relationship. Paddy becomes the guy who wants to take advantage of females while Badger wants to care for them. However, neither quite knows how to do so without making a lot of mistakes along the way. Most of the characters drink. Are they drinking though to celebrate or hide the disappointments and harsh realities they face as young adults?
We’ve seen many films about teenagers partying and trying to get laid. This one does an excellent job of illustrating just how empty some of that truly is. Personally, I am SO glad not to be that age!
How to Have Sex opens this week in limited release including the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Chicago.
FILM: HOW TO HAVE SEX
DIRECTED BY: MOLLY MANNING WALKER
STARRING: MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE, LARA PEAKE, ENVA LEWIS
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Seeing a film like How to Have Sex in 2024 is a reminder of just how difficult being a teen in any era is thanks to the peer pressure surrounding sex. It’s a period of awakening for all of us but one that is fraught with disappointments, loneliness, and lots of confusion.
The film has already been quite celebrated in Britain where it was nominated for three BAFTA Awards (their equivalent of the Oscars) and several British Independent Film Awards. The title suggests the film is going to be a wild sex romp but it actually goes much deeper than that. During the early sequences, three teenaged British girls land in Malia (a city on the Island of Crete.) Their whole focus is to party, drink, meet boys, and get laid. Early on they come across as shrill and wildly immature. They smoke, drink, and wear sexy outfits at loud clubs that feature flashing lights, pounding music, and other teens, seemingly without a care in the world. (It’s a mature older person’s worse nightmare to watch…)
One of the girls, Tara, played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, appears to be quite ready for the challenges ahead with her one goal: to not die a virgin. However, the narrative and direction begins to single her out as the one character who is slightly timid and looking increasingly uncomfortable with the whole scene. She and her friends meet a couple of guys and one lesbian who are staying at a nearby apartment. Initially, there are some sparks, especially between Tara and one of the boys named Badger (of course that’s his name!) He seems like a sweet bad boy but then Tara witnesses him doing something on a club stage that turns her off. She then meets up with the other boy, Paddy. The next morning no one knows where Tara has ended up.
Writer/director Molly Manning Walker does a great job of establishing the outrageousness of this young partying world and then contrasting it with Tara’s own slow disillusionment with what she’s “supposed” to be doing at this stage in her life. She knows the “rules” of sex and how one attracts young men but she has never quite imagined how cold it would feel. There’s a great shot of her walking down an empty, garbage filled, main street, which had been host to all of the debauchery the night before. The thumping music and loud voices are replaced by almost complete quietness save for a few breezes. Tara is alone. What comes next for her? While her girlfriends and everyone else seem to be recovering, Tara is lost.
Mia McKenna-Bruce is quite astonishing in the role of Tara. Her initial scenes require her to scream when she talks with her scratchy voice but close-ups of her face, which beautifully capture her newly developed internal struggle, later replace this. She’s also able to master Tara’s transitions back to the party atmosphere to chase yet another empty series of highs. By the end of the film, her expressions suggest she is ready to re-evaluate the priorities in her life.
The other characters, while not nearly as developed, are all interesting in their own right. Tara’s friend Em is clearly exploring her interest in a same-sex relationship. Paddy becomes the guy who wants to take advantage of females while Badger wants to care for them. However, neither quite knows how to do so without making a lot of mistakes along the way. Most of the characters drink. Are they drinking though to celebrate or hide the disappointments and harsh realities they face as young adults?
We’ve seen many films about teenagers partying and trying to get laid. This one does an excellent job of illustrating just how empty some of that truly is. Personally, I am SO glad not to be that age!
How to Have Sex opens this week in limited release including the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Chicago.