HOW TO HAVE SEX (B+) - Cinematographer Molly Manning Walker makes her writing-directing debut with this deceptively smart story of a teenage virgin's awkward transition to hook-up culture during a wild spring break with her two London pals on a Greek island. Mia McKenna-Bruce is understated but powerful as Tara as the afterthought of the friend zone with her two alpha female pals.
Tara is wide-eyed and inexperienced, but she has that yearning you might remember from your teen years, the ache to be cooler than you are. She starts a flirtation with a boy from the next hotel balcony over, Badger (Shaun Thomas), who also plays second fiddle to his handsomer mate, Paddy (Samuel Bottomley). At the halfway point of this bacchanal, Tara goes off with Paddy, and they have sex, but it's a bit vague just how consensual it was and whether Tara feels more violated or just more underwhelmed by the overhyped moment.
Newcomer Molly Manning Walker, a veteran cinematographer, pens a deceivingly intelligent script. She keeps the dread level elevated, but we never feel like any sort of tragedy has occurred. She also, interestingly, shuns nudity -- there is plenty of young flesh on display, but not a breast or a penis to be spotted, making this oddly but satisfyingly chaste in a way. The kids have thick working-class London accents, and this was screened with subtitles, which detracts a bit from the appreciation of the agile banter Tara engages in with her randier besties, the controlling Skye (Laura Peake) and the empathetic Em (Enva Lewis).
At the end of the trip, McKenna-Bruce conveys a range of emotions, as you wonder whether Tara is traumatized or just different, her eyes and mind opened to the pitfalls of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Along the way, it's fun to watch these young adults carouse and catcall each other as their immature bodies indulge in adult substances during a memorable weekend. This shares DNA with other wild-weekend entries like "Monday" and "Suntan," all sharper than you'd expect.
FLY WITH ME (B) - From PBS' "American Experience" comes this by-the-numbers history of women in the air industry, from World War II-era nurses to the assembly line stewardess of the early jet age to the flight attendants organizing into what is now one of the strongest unions in the country.
At 112 minutes, this feels bulky. Most of the first third is taken up with archival footage of the early days of flight and airline service, and then there is a detour near the halfway mark to explore civil-rights issues for African-American pioneers in the industry, which feels like a shallow gloss. That leads to the the Title VII protections against sex discrimination. The actual feminist and labor movements don't congeal until the final third.
But the pioneering women are fun to hang out with. Their stories are engaging, and it's encouraging to know that they survived decades of sexism. You get the sense that some of the fun stuff about being a swinin' stewardess in the '60s and '70s might have ended up on the cutting-room floor in order to maintain a sobriety and sense of decorum for this by-the-books documentary.
BONUS TRACK
From the closing credits of "How to Have Sex," Romy with "Strong":
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