Mia McKenna-Bruce

Lara Peake

Enva Lewis

Samuel Bottomley

Shaun Thomas

Laura Ambler

Eilidh Loan

Daisy Jelley

Elliot Warren

Anna Antoniades

Guy Lewis

Eleni Sachini

Finlay Vane Last

Eric Manaka

Matilda Rowe

Elizabeth Matthews

Konstandina Rousohatzaki

Olivia Brady

Isabelle Atkinson

Evija Stepanenko

Tyrese Eaton-Dyce

Tinashe Darikwa

George Buxton

Joanna Sturrock

Liza Tsouloupa

Antigoni Kapaka

Marta Wozniak

Danny Duke

Shing Hong Chan

Gemma Saunders

Sophia Voulala

Iris Cohen

Voula Chourtsidou

Giorgos Nikolakis

Fiona Hewlett

Natasha Lawes

Alistair Bolt

James Trusson

Akis Doulkeridis

Millie Hooper

Mick Audsley

Lauren Dark

Amelia Deering

Nina Annan

Rene Taylor

Verity Wislocki

Christo Pandit

Sarah Challis

Sotiris Ioannidis

Petros Tsampakouris

Levi Mercurio

Manos Kritsotakis

Romanos Argyropoulos-Ioannou

Catherine Grieves

Orestis Dionysopoulos

Leanna Smith

Kevin Robertson

Nikos Nikolopoulos

Christos Polychronopoulos

Dimitris Zambaras

Vaggelis Katsaros

Ioanna Peteinaraki

Paul Hills

Abiola Rufai-Awójídé

Theresa Crooks

Tidža Karup

Marita Varthali

Pavlos Charbalis

Lia Jacobs

Jessica Malik

Molly Manning Walker

Nathanaël Karmitz

Kristin Irving

Harriet Harper-Jones

Fionnuala Jamison

Konstantinos Kontovrakis

Steve Fanagan

Nicolas Canniccioni

Farhana Bhula

Ben Coren

Phil Hunt

Giorgos Karnavas

Isabella Odoffin

Marie-Elena Dyche

Compton Ross

Sotiris Kraniotis

Emily Leo

Ivana MacKinnon

Fin Oates

James Jacob

Dominique Desveaux

Giorgos Maniatis

Nikolas Konstantinou

Elias Vervecken

Luke Moran-Morris

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How to Have Sex

Film4 Productions

MK2 Films

Metrol Technology

uMedia

Wild Swim Films

Heretic

Head Gear Films

United Kingdom

Greece

France

Belgium

English

female friendship

crete

coming of age

teenage girl

female protagonist

summer

woman director

sexual assault

hookup

generation z

consent

partying

Lachlan Thiele

INT. HOLIDAY HORRORS - NIGHT

Tara, Em and Skye have all come to the party, and party HARD. The story consists of these three friends on holiday that are down to fuck; Tara, in particular, will be her first time. This coming-of-age story is entirely a downer, but with some of the most exciting dance and party scenes with music that goes hard, it's impossible to look away. 

With Em and Skye, Tara has an Angel and Devil on her shoulders telling her what to do, think and feel. Badger, her love interest, starts as a rave-head looking to bang but grows into a compassionate friend amongst these horny young adults. 
Hats off to the performances of Tara Mia McKenna-Bruce and Badger Shaun Thomas and the wicked soundtrack.
 
FADE OUT.

CinemaSerf

I think any parent of a late-teenage child will be mortified at what goes on when three girls head off to Heraklion in search of sun, sea and sex. They arrive full of beans - determined too have a good time and to get laid. We quickly learn that "Tara" (Mia McKenna-Bruce) has yet to experience that, and she is keen to tick that particular event from her bucket list. Together with pals "Skye" (Lara Peake) and "Em" (Enva Lewis) they hook up with the folks whose balcony is next door. "Tara" takes a bit of a shine to tattooed, van driver, "Badger" (Shaun Thomas) who is there with his friends "Paddy" (Samuel Bottomley) and "Paige" (Laura Ambler). It's on their third night that the film stops being a video-diary of hedonistic behaviour as her friend "Badger" gets blown away by a poolside experience and she finds herself on her own, then on the beach with... What now ensues begin the elements that provides the crux of the point of the film. When is what we want not what we want, when does yes not really mean yes - or it means yes because you just want to get something over with, or yes because you are just curious, or yes because you are too stoked up to think anything through - and are in the arms of a charismatic person? This isn't a violent film in any graphic sense, but it does have quite an emotionally potent impact for a while as the very much on-form McKenna-Bruce juggles her outward, bouncy and lively persona, with a young woman who is still very much growing up - and vulnerable. I didn't love the last twenty minutes - they robbed the film of the much of the ambiguity that hitherto had made it poignant and a talking point. At this point the behaviour becomes just plain wrong and odious - before they all head home. This is a story about a girl, but it could just as easily be about a boy - under self and peer imposed pressures to perform/conform unaware of the longer-term consequences of sand getting everywhere. Snag for me is that the film is just too much of a fly-on-the-wall documentary for the most part. We have to wait too long before the story starts to make it's point effectively, and then I think it rather rushes and compromises the message. It's still worth a watch, though - and McKenna-Bruce is very confident and impressive.

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/how-to-have-sex-review-a-thought-provoking-debut/

"How to Have Sex lives up to high expectations, offering a thought-provoking exploration of consent, societal complicity with rape, and adolescent struggles.

Mia McKenna-Bruce's breakthrough performance authentically captures the protagonist's profound transformation as Molly Manning Walker boldly leaves pivotal conversations unspoken, mirroring society's avoidance of uncomfortable truths. Technically impressive, the haunting sound mixing enhances the narrative complexity, seamlessly fitting the thematic atmosphere.

An urgent call to viewers to reflect on their own behaviors or lack thereof."

Rating: B+

Classic American Pie setup of a bunch of youngsters on a mission to lose their virginity, except set in reality where the drug and alcohol fueled antics of people whose brains are still developing is more horrific than comedic. Well acted and believable characters, but I just didn't find it all that compelling. Maybe because the plot points are all too common, both in film and reality.

Brent Marchant

It’s truly disappointing when a film tackles a serious subject but mishandles the execution of the story associated with it. Such is the case with writer-director Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature about the troubling ramifications associated with undercooked decisions about adolescent sex. When a trio of British teens (Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Enva Lewis) embarks on a spring break-style vacation to the resort town of Malia on the island of Crete, they anticipate a raucous, fun-filled time of drinking, dancing and sexual hedonism. The last of those goals is especially important to Tara (McKenna-Bruce), the lone virgin in the group, who’s anxious to cross the threshold of becoming a woman. But, as she pursues the fulfillment of that objective, she finds the decision fraught with more complications than she anticipated, some of which weigh heavily upon her as she seeks to sort them out. That’s understandable, too, given the profound nature of this rite of passage. Unfortunately, that conundrum is couched in a narrative that’s fundamentally implausible. For starters, what parent in their right mind would give their minor child permission to go on such an unchaperoned journey as this, one that’s easily bound to be looked on as an exercise in reckless abandon? And then there’s the plot, which is riddled with clichés and predictability, telling a story that’s more than a little familiar. In fleshing out this trite narrative, the picture is filled with endless footage of screaming, unbalanced partygoers imbibing to excess, singing karaoke off-key and falling over when the night’s over. It’s also difficult to understand much of what the characters say, given their unruly drunken behavior and thick cockney accents, making them look and sound like a mob of rowdy, inarticulate soccer hooligans. Despite the gravity of the topic involved here, it’s hard to take this release seriously – and to maintain interest in the story and its characters – as the film unfolds. It’s even more puzzling how this important but shopworn material managed to captivate so many during the 2023 awards season with the honors and nominations it received at the Cannes Film Festival and in the BAFTA Awards competition. Had this offering been a little less obvious, it may have made its point more effectively, but there’s little here that we haven’t already seen many times before, weakening the significant message it’s seeking to convey.

#MollyManningWalker's Cannes prizewinning HOW TO HAVE SEX is a raw look at female friendship

The How to Have Sex crew walk the BAFTAs red carpet | Film4

Molly Manning Walker just wants to talk

BFI Q&A with Molly Manning Walker and Mia McKenna-Bruce

Molly Manning Walker and Mia McKenna-Bruce on the craziness of filming How to Have Sex

Q&A with Molly Manning Walker & Mia McKenna-Bruce

Official Trailer

Molly Manning Walker and the cast of How to Have Sex at the BFI London Film Festival 2023

How to Have Sex starring Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake and more | OFFICIAL TRAILER | Film4

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How to Have Sex( 2023)

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A review by Lachlan Thiele

Written by Lachlan Thiele on Sun May 28 2023

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