How to Have Sex – Film Review

Director – Molly Manning Walker
Writer – Molly Manning Walker
Stars – Mia McKenna-Bruce, Shaun Thomas, Lara Peake

“Streets like a jungle,
so call the police,
following the herd,
down to Greece,
on holiday”

These are the prophetic words of one Damon Albarn and Blur, all the way back in 1994! It seems little has changed, as we follow three teenagers on their summer holiday to Malia in Crete. They have escaped their parents in England while they are waiting for their exam results. Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce) is the main protagonist of the piece. We follow her along with her friends Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis) on their holiday. They talk about their ambitions for the holiday, to get drunk and have sex, but the reality is quite different as these three teenagers nervously pretend to be adults.

They quickly meet some people who are staying in the room next to them, including the wonderfully named Badger (Shaun Thomas), Paddy (Samuel Bottomley) and their gay female friend Paige (Laura Ambler). The two groups become friends and meet up for a night out together.

This film is from writer/ director Molly Manning Walker, who mainly worked as a cinematographer up until this point. She has a few short films to her credit but this is her first feature film.

The story is simple. It’s an honest account of what goes on with teenagers who beneath their make-up are little more than children. This film has a 15 cert and never gets too graphic or sordid. This is not Ibiza Uncovered with drunken yobs prowling the clubs.

It’s refreshing to see a film that doesn’t follow the typical story arc and you really have no idea where it will go. There are issues of consent and alcohol abuse, all told candidly. There is no contempt from the film-maker for her protagonists, she sees their struggle to make sense of the adult world and appreciates its difficulties.