How to Have Sex follows three girls who go on a holiday trip full of drinking and partying, where Tara feels pressure to match the sexual experiences of her friends.

The film immediately dives into the trip, showcasing each of the characters’ very quirky and outgoing personalities. While it opens up in a non-serious manner with the characters being outlandishly drunk, they are actually well-written and multi-layered, hiding a lot of jealousies, anxieties and insecurities beneath the surface.

Right from the start, there’s a constant buildup of pressure surrounding sex. At the midway point, the movie takes a turn, with a very uncomfortable, yet important scene depicting the blurred lines of consent and sexual assault. This is what carries the flick forward, as the rest of runtime is dedicated to Tara processing what happened.

While other films may beat you over the head with their messaging, How to Have Sex does not. The power of this movie doesn’t come from words, but rather silence. Mia McKenna-Bruce delivers an exceptional performance, conveying a lot of emotion. Because the audience is shown what happened to Tara, it makes her silence and the actions of everyone surrounding her that much more impactful.

How to Have Sex asks a lot of hard questions and covers the topics that other movies fail to execute — the societal pressure to have sex, the failed understanding of consent and the difficulty in talking about sexual assault within a party culture that permeates it. The film also explores the lack of accountability by men in these situations, along with their friends who continue to allow it to happen.

At face value, How to Have Sex is a film predominantly full of partying. Underneath the top layer, however, is a powerful and necessary look at one woman’s trauma, guilt and silence following sexual assault. The title alone is bold, and How to Have Sex delivers a timely story that everyone should see.

Rating: 5 out of 5