Summary
Amanda Kramer returns with a blast of Tehcnicolor in this genderfuck of a musical odyssey unlike any other.
It’s been a couple of years since Amanda Kramer released Ladyworld, a gender-flipped spin on Lord of the Flies. As this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam brings her career into focus, the idiosyncratic filmmaker continues the general theme as she returns with the first of two wildly inventive films.
PLEASE BABY PLEASE bursts onto the screen with a splashy throwback Technicolor/Panavision title sequence, and a scenario that recalls the original West Side Story by way of Tom of Finland and a dash of Anna Biller. A group of The Wild One inspired bikers known as the Young Gents thrust into the blue-drenched frame, intercepted by boho couple Arthur (Harry Melling) and Suze (Andrea Riseborough).
It’s a moment that breaks whatever vision of themselves they had, as the lead hang member (Karl Glusman) awakens something in them both. Arthur is visibly attracted to him while Suze wants to become his equal. Shortly after, we see the two dance in their new apartment, flipping the roles 1950s society has laid out for them. Suze uses a bottle as a phallic symbol while both mocking (and mildly following) a submissive role. It’s a contradictory emotion the film spends much of its time pondering
Bathed in alternating blue and red lights, and occasionally a blend of the two, it’s a genderfuck of a musical adventure through the myths of gender that are presented to us. Kramer initially presents this as a purely intellectual discussion, as Arthur and Suze sit around with their bohemian friends and discuss the illusion of gender. Through the rest of film, we watch bars full of sexual tourists, transformative dance sequences, and multiple references to pop cultural reinforcements of stereotypes. Arthur and Suze are presented with alternatives, but struggle to find a representative for exactly what they are “meant” to be. To be a man, is it the Young Gents or Arthur’s father? Demi Moore, as the exquisitely portrayed neighbour from apartment 10F, is a sex-positive flip on Suze’s idea of ‘wife,’ albeit trapped in a gilded cage of modern conveniences.
Some of it is cheekily on the nose: when the Young Gents invade the couple’s apartment, Glusman’s character quite literally steps out of a closet. One of Suze’s fantasy dance sequences — which, by the way, Riseborough deserves all the awards for — sees the Young Gents branding her with domestic irons. Yet it ultimately presents gender as a fluid concept, exploring trans and non-binary narratives in order to give modern viewers the representation Arthur and Suze don’t have in their social bubble.
If PLEASE BABY PLEASE falls short of brilliance, it has a hell of a time getting there. As the film culminates in a split-screen three-way, you almost want to pull on an invisible chain just to get a splash of cold water. There’s been nothing quite like this film at festivals in a long time — save perhaps for Kramer’s companion release Give Me Pity — so it may take us a while to catch up on just how clever it really is.
2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Amanda Kramer | WRITERS: Amanda Kramer, Noel David Taylor | CAST: Andrea Riseborough, Demi Moore, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman | DISTRIBUTOR: Rivulet Media, Silver Bullet Entertainment, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2022 (NL) | RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 January – 6 February 2022 (IFFR)
