My First Time is a 2018 short film from writer/director Asaf Livni. The film has been featured at over 50 International film fests, winning the award for “Best Short Film” at the Fantasporto Film Fest (2019), as well as the “Wes Craven Horror/Thriller Award” at the Catalina Film Fest (2018).

I personally first encountered this film at Negative Fest in Lake Worth, Florida in 2018. While a program that listed each of the films that would be showing was handed out to attendees of the film festival, no synopsis was provided for any of the films presented, nor was there any introduction given for any of the films screened that weekend. This meant that attendees would be experiencing each of these films “blind”; having no preconceived notions prior to watching each of that weekend’s films, excluding any expectations that they may have formed based off of title alone.

My First Time centers on a young woman named “Maggie” (actress Lenny Cohen) who, initially through POV narrative, walks us through the experience that is her “first time”. Her monologue is inter-cut with scenes from that night. However, as this was primarily a HORROR film fest, attendees knew to expect something more than just the tale of sexual discovery that the film’s title seemed to imply.

From the opening moments, the film attempts to play with the audience’s expectations. “Maggie” is presented as both excited and nervous about her “big night”, as many tend to be in regards to their first sexual experience. In fact, the first portion of the film plays like a romantic-comedy, with the humor stemming from the reality of just how nervous and clumsy people can act when around members of the opposite sex.

Maggie meets a man in a local bar. After some “small talk”, they leave the bar, walking back to the man’s apartment. Upon arrival, the couple start making out on the man’s couch. However, he is soon alerted to a buzzing coming from his cell phone. He reaches out to decline the call, mumbling that the caller is a “nag”. This raises Maggie’s suspicions, and she questions if he already has a girlfriend.

The man tries to explain that the caller is an ex-girlfriend, one whom he claims still wants to be involved with him. However, he finds himself more than a little distracted from that topic when Maggie oh-so-casually removes her panties. (I mean, it’s pretty distracting no matter who the person is.) He asks if she would like to venture to the bedroom, but she declines, singling out a wooden desk chair as the “special spot”.

Within moments, the man is seated in the chair, Maggie dry-humping him like she’s getting paid for the effort. She pulls a pair of handcuffs from her purse, cuffing the man’s hands behind his back. Now that he has been securely bound, she finally reveals that he’s not going to be her first lover. He’s going to be her first victim!!

Even with her true intentions now fully disclosed, My First Time continues to have fun with the deception, making the intended victim completely oblivious to what is actually planned for him, at least for a while. Some humor stems from the stark contrast between what she has planned and what the man THINKS is about to happen. However, the majority of the film’s comedic edge comes into play when, as tends to be the case with many “first times”, things don’t go exactly as she had imagined they would.

My First Time is a fun little ride, mixing a morbid sense of humor with an unexpected but pleasant dose of action. The film drew a nice response from the crowd at Negative Fest, this reviewer included.

My First Time became available for public viewing on April 29th (2019), so instead of droning on about the film any longer, I have included a link to the full film so that you can watch it and form your own opinions. Be sure to sound off in the comments!!