I don’t think it's a good thing that I know every single personality in this film. It also says a lot about the similarities of Irish and English cultures, hey, maybe we’re not so different after all. If nothing else, this film is going to bring peace to the lands, bonding over the common ground of our teenage holidayers.
How To Have Sex is the debut feature from Molly Manning Walker, an accomplished cinematographer - mostly working in the British Indie film scene. She most recently shot Scrapper, another film I loved. For me, films like this, Aftersun, Scrapper and Rye Lane feel like the start of a really exciting time for UK cinema, and also for female writers / directors. I'm excited to be around it and can’t wait to see how it progresses in the next few years.
This film follows a trio of girls, Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis), who are celebrating the end of the school year with some drunken nights around the Greek Islands. Immediately there is so much energy and excitement from the girls, as they travel to the hotel and check in to their pool view room with shrieks of joy at the size of the room and the inclusion of a big bathroom.
Shortly after their first of many nights out, the girls meet Badger (Shaun Thomas) who is standing on the balcony adjacent to theirs. They plan to have pre drinks with them before heading out for the second night. They meet up with Badger’s roommates, Paddy (Samuel Bottomley) and Paige (Laura Ambler) in the hotel room and we see Skye encourage Tara to pursue Paddy, even though she has a clear connection with Badger.
The holiday turns after that night, when Tara gets separated from the group, acting differently the days following.
The film deals a lot in expectation, to keep drinking and stay out with everyone or to be “fun” when it comes to games or experiences, despite your own feelings. Tara comes on the holiday as a virgin, and has a motivation to lose her virginity while there, it feels a little bit like there is pressure from those around her on this, that she’s not really on their level unless she has lost it. As with a lot of the film, I think these themes are really universal at that age, having the expectation to be “grown up” about things and to have experiences, crazier than those around you. Weirdly, I think a lot of those come from the games people play while drinking, like Never Have I Ever, where the entire point is to highlight stories that are of someone doing something outrageous or how outrageous it is that someone might not have done that thing. As a former teen, prone to the culture of pressure, I think it adds a lot of weight to the conversations in the film, giving the characters and situations inherent depth as you relate them to yourself or people in your life.
That isn’t a knock on the writing or development of these characters, I think singularly, they are written really well. Not leaning on a cliche or caricature of the teens and adults clinging onto their teen years. I found Tara, Skye and Em to be the most in depth with Badger following behind, having a lot of nuance to his character, helped by a really endearing performance from Shaun Thomas.
Mia McKenna-Bruce does really shine as Tara in the film, she carries the story with her as we spend almost every scene with her. She plays Tara with charm and vulnerability that you believe her and her situation. As the story goes on, Tara is a quieter character, losing some of that boisterous chatter we see initially. The switch into this side of Tara is also done really well in the writing and portrayal, we don’t lose her as a character, we feel for her instead of losing her to the energetic film around her.
The energy not only comes from the characters, but also from the crowded scenes in neon lit clubs, the brash soundtrack of vomit inducing, repeating beats and quick cuts between angles during these moments. The camera is intimate in the film, with most of it being eye level to the characters, keeping us grounded and in the moment. The look plays with lights as we spend a lot of time with those colourful beams of LEDs. These night scenes are balanced with some warm daylight shots, in and out of the hotel room.
There is a shot in particular that I have seen a few people remark on, a pretty striking shot of Tara walking down the street, in the morning after a night out. The streets are baron, with cups scattered and shutters shut. She is wearing a neon green outfit, contrasted against the grey of the street. It looks almost apocalyptic with such emptiness and neglect. I don’t want to dig too deep into the meaning of a shot but it is telling of a place that only exists for the nightlife, not being a place for people to live a “normal” life. Everyone is on the same nocturnal schedule, even the store owners, catering for the demand of the nightlife.
Shots like these are what give the film its emotional weight. It really hits in the third act where events happen that really stick with you as you watch and even follow you out of the theatre. It is hard not to be affected by the themes of the film, they are portrayed so personally that you really feel the emotion. The opening and closing of the film almost mirror each other with a taxi ride, the dynamic of the journeys are vastly different, the characters feeling the events of the holiday as they drive. We sit mostly with Tara, watching her process her feelings inside.
I feel like this film really archives what it sets out to and furthers my argument for the British female writers and directors making some of the most poignant films as of late. I hope we get to experience more of these stories and the recognition for them continues to be more and more widespread.
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