Please Baby Please

''Please Baby Please'' is a 2022 American musical drama film directed by Amanda Kramer, who co-wrote the screenplay with Noel David Taylor. It stars Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman, and Demi Moore.

The film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 26, 2022. It was released in the United States on October 28, 2022, by Music Box Films.

Plot

In the Lower East Side in Manhattan, a gang called the Young Gents prepares for their night by dancing throughout various alleyways. They stop in front of an apartment building and begin beating a couple to death, only stopping when one of the Young Gents, Teddy whistles for them to stop because a shocked-looking couple, Arthur and Suze have stopped on front of the apartment. As the other members of the Young Gents interrogate Arthur and Suze, Arthur and Teddy stare at each other, Arthur seemingly entranced by Teddy. Suze reveals that she and Arthur live in apartment 2B. As the Young Gents walk away Teddy smiles at Arthur, who stares at him. Suze looks at Arthur in bewilderment as to what just happened and begins to pick up the things they dropped.

Some time later, Suze and Arthur are hosting their friends Ida, Baker, and Les in their apartment. Suze recounts their encounter with the Young Gents, seemingly delighted at the violence. Arthur is mocked by Baker and Les for his refusal to “be a man,” and a conversation about gender performance and expectations ensues, where Suze reveals a desire to “be Stanley Kowalski” and expresses more delight at the violence caused by the Young Gents, which ends when Arthur loudly proclaims his anxieties about manhood and how he feels judged equally by men and women. Suze tells their friends “Arthur hasn’t slept.”

After Baker, Ida, and Les leave, Arthur attempts to fix a chair and Suze attempts to wash dishes. Suze begins dancing and coaxes Arthur to dance with her. The two dance next to each other until Suze grabs a bottle, mimes it being between her legs like a phallus, and gyrates at Arthur. Arthur takes the bottle from her and Suze mimes slitting her throat. Suze prostrates at Arthur's feet and begs him to let her worship him; he pulls her up and kisses her on the cheek. Suze declares that she and Arthur are “the last of the greats” and that she wants a hamburger. Arthur sighs, lets go of Suze, and takes the trash outside. As Arthur takes the trash out he finds a blood-stained matchbook from The Blue Angel Club, which he imagines Teddy's face in. Arthur walks towards the bar.

Suze watches Arthur walk away. She hears Maureen, her neighbor, calling for help from the hallway. Maureen hands Suze grocery bags and they walk up to her penthouse apartment which is filled with brand new appliances, several of which Suze admits to not having seen before. Maureen tells Suze that she's seen Arthur around but does not answer when Suze asks where she's seen him. Maureen expresses disgust for the appliances her husband, who she calls Daddy, buys for her and says that she wants a big, messy painting instead. Suze tells Maureen about the murder she and Arthur witnessed. Maureen waxes poetic to Suze about the nature of men, and how sometimes women want to “get a little choked,” even when married to “tender” husbands like Arthur.

Interrupting Maureen and Suze's conversation is a voice calling from the streets for Maureen's keys. Suze believes that the voice is coming from Maureen's husband but Maureen tells Suze that it's her friend Billy. Maureen shares that she is in trouble and will be traveling to Europe, and that she will be giving Suze her keys so she can feed her cat. Maureen invites Suze to use any of her appliances and ignores Suze's protests as Billy enters the room, laughing hysterically.

At the Blue Angel Club, Arthur stares longingly at Teddy from across the bar as we see the Young Gents messing around at the bar. Arthur watches Teddy and the bartender flirt with each other. Two young women, Joanne and her friend, try to get Arthur to dance. Seeing that Arthur is not interested in Joanne, Dickie, a member of the Young Gents, puts his hand on Joanne's shoulder and shows her his drawings. Joanne expresses interest in Dickie, who becomes upset when Joanne won't blow a kiss back to him; another Young Gent, Lon, calls Joanne a ‘tramp” and berates her to buy Dickie a drink. Joanne and her friend run out of the bar. Teddy and the bartender whisper to each other and walk towards the bathroom, and Arthur follows them.

Teddy and the bartender embrace against a stall in the bathroom, where it is implied that Teddy is giving the bartender a hand job. Arthur walks into the bathroom and awkwardly washes his hands until Teddy ushers for the bartender to leave the bathroom. Teddy tells Arthur that he remembers him from “2B,” and asks where Suze is. Arthur does not respond until Teddy asks if he's going to “play dead.” Arthur says that his clarinet is broken, and Teddy flirts with him. Teddy compares himself to a Wheeler wasp, calling himself “an ethological non-entity.” Arthur confronts Teddy about the murder the Young Gents committed and Teddy confronts Arthur about being married to Suze. Teddy reveals that the Young Gents are preparing for a big fight and Arthur implores him not to. Teddy smiles at Arthur and grabs his chin gently; they imply that they'll see each other again.

Suze has a fantasy sequence where she dances in Maureen's apartment while the Young Gents writhe around her in underwear and fetish gear. Suze pins Lon to the wall and choke him as he starts to say “please, baby…” and Suze finishes with “please.”

Suze cuts back to reality, watching Les recite poetry as Baker accompanies him on the drum. The room is filled with fellow beatniks, as well as Dickie and Joanne. Dickie is deeply moved by the poetry while Joanne laughs loudly at it, eventually causing Les to stop and ask them to leave. An argument about etiquette breaks out between Dickie, Les, Baker, Ida, and Joanne and Dickie almost lashes out as Joanne. Dickie calls himself “sensitive” and “misunderstood,’ and Joanne says she might not want a sensitive man. Baker asks Dickie how he heard about the poetry reading, and he says he's a friend of Arthur's, which shocks Suze. Baker realizes that Dickie is one of the street killers Suze told him about. Suze throws several glass bottles at Dickie as Arthur hides against a wall.

Suze and Ida walk down the streets after having left the party and Suze expresses a desire to be considered “imposing,” “feared,” and “impressive,” while Ida affirms her love of being a woman. Ida discusses the nature of womanhood, marriage, and female friendship while Suze describes what she'd do if she was man. They stop in front of a phone booth that is occupied by Billy in full drag, crying on a payphone. Billy begs Ida for a dime to call his lover back on the phone; Ida wonders aloud if Billy will be able to convince his lover to return to him. Billy sings Since I Don't Have You as Suze imagines flowers growing in the phone booth.

Suze and Arthur sit terrified in bed as the Young Gents whoop and holler outside of their window. Suze asks Arthur if he would ever want her to be someone else; Arthur and Suze discuss the nature of changing and evolving over the course of a life after Suze admits that she'd like to be someone else, which concerns Arthur. Suze asks Arthur if he loves her, and he tells her he “loves erfor now” and that he worries about who she's becoming. Someone throws Arthur's clarinet through the bedroom window. Suze is livid and runs into the living room yelling and sees that the door to their apartment is wide open. Suze declares that she is going to confront the Young Gents as Arthur begs her not to get involved. Suze shouts “ I’m the king around here and don’t you forget it!” and runs downstairs.

As Arthur closes the door, Gene and Lon are revealed behind the door. Arthur attempts to escape as Lon takes an ice pack and milk out of the freezer. Gene opens the closet door to reveal Teddy, who is bloodied and beaten. Teddy hangs onto Arthur as he asks him if the Young Gents can hide out in his apartment. Suze comes back into the room which caused the Young Gents to start to leave. Lon takes Suze's apartment keys out of her hand as the Young Gents leave. Suze screams in fury.

Suze has another fantasy sequence- she dances near a radiator as Gene slides over to her, and Suze pushes Gene's smiling face into the radiator. The Young Gents then all line up to brand Suze with an iron and she writhes and hisses in pleasure.

Arthur strokes and attempts to clean Teddy's blood off of his robe. He gets dresses in a suit and tie, and spits at his reflection in the mirror.

Suze and Arthur sit at a table in the Blue Angel. Billy sits at their table, and the three have a discussion about masculinity, gender roles, and gender expectations. Arthur shares that he does not feel like enough of a man to justify being one. Billy teases that he has a theory that he'll tell Arthur “some blue night.” Suze demands they tell her the theory and Billy smirks. Billy says that Arthur and Suze both sound “queer.” Suze screams, flips the table, and grabs Arthur's to leave.

Suze drags Arthur's hand as they walk home, ranting about Billy's insinuation, stopping when they come across the Young Gents stripping Joanne's father's car. Joanne challenges the Young Gents to a contest where they have to be vulnerable with their feelings. Teddy volunteers, which Gene and Lon try to prevent; Teddy shares the pressure he feels being compared to other men. Joanne is moved by this and Lon stabs her in the neck, killing her. Arthur yells out in horror and Teddy runs over to him and Suze. Teddy warns them that the Young Gents are targeting them and he can't get their apartment keys back. Suze offers to trade their keys for Maureen's, so the Young Gents can steal her stuff, and Teddy says he will try to get the swap; he gently touches Arthur's chin again.

Suze runs into Billy as they walk up the stairs to their apartment, and Billy tells Suze his theory from the Blue Angel- that humans are “on a dying planet full of impossible obstacles.”

Suze has her final fantasy sequence- Teddy and Dickie kiss at and stroke Suze as the rest of the Young Gents gyrate around her. Suze whispers “please, baby, please” several times.

Suze goes through Teddy's leather jacket, grabbing a ticket stub to the Bijou 52 as Arthur talks to his father (Chris Eigeman, in an uncredited cameo) on the phone and begs him to not visit them in the city. Arthur expresses to his father how he has tried to meet the expectations society has on him as a man; Arthur's father sympathizes with him and assures him that they will not visit.

Suze arrives at the Bijou 52, a gay porn theater, and tries to use the ticket stub she found in Teddy's jacket to get into the theatre. The ticket taker (also Harry Melling) makes her pay more to enter because she's a woman. Suze enters the theatre and asks a woman, Lois, about Teddy; Lois asks if Teddy is Suze's husband. Suze says that he is, and proceeds to share her feelings on the nature of relationships, and laments that she doesn't know how to satisfy her husband. Suze then asks a man sitting in the back, Cal, who says that he knows of the Young Gents. The man reveals himself to be a cop who is about to bust the theater full of “criminal queers” and advises Suze to leave, which she does.

Arthur looks for Suze and runs into Teddy. Teddy asks Arthur if he wants to “lose control” and tells him that he could be his “favorite;” he also asks Arthur if he's ever thought about other men before, to which Arthur widens his eyes. Teddy and Arthur embrace as it is implied that Teddy gives Arthur a hand job; as they embrace, a wedding party exits a hall and dance. The bride bumps into Arthur and condescends to him about Teddy. Teddy proceeds to beat the groom up while Arthur watches, terrified and aroused.

Arthur hides his face in pillows on his and Suze's bed. Arthur hears Suze come home, and he tells her that there is nothing wrong with either of them, they just need to “figure it out.” He asks her if she's locked the door, and she asks him what the point of locking the door is.

Arthur, Ida, Baker, and Les sit in Arthur and Suze's apartment as Suze dances. Suze continues to quote Marlon Brando and Ida yells at her to stop. The Young Gents barge into the apartment and hold everyone hostage. Lon returns Suze's keys to her and she gives them Maureen's keys in exchange. Gene takes two other Young Gents, Raymond and Russell, with him to rob Maureen's apartment and leaves Teddy, Dickie, and Lon to watch the hostages. Lon mocks Arthur for marrying Suze and insinuates that she has a penis, and Suze stabs Lon to death. She yells at Ida, Baker, and Les to leave, and reminds Dickie that Lon killed Joanne. Dickie punches Suze in the eye, saying that she has been asking for it; Teddy tells Arthur that they will be back to take care of Lon's body. Suze tells Arthur that Lon wanted them to be afraid of his masculinity because he feared her and Arthur's.

Suze goes to Maureen's apartment where she finds the remaining Young Gents dead, as well as Billy and Maureen's husband. Maureen remarks that she's “nobody’s wife” now as Suze smokes a cigarette.

Some time later, Arthur conducts an orchestra as images of Suze and Teddy appear on screen.

The final scene of the movie is a split screen- one side shows Suze, sporting a short haircut and black eye, dressing up like Teddy; the other side shows Arthur dancing all the way home and into his apartment. The split screen wipes away when Arthur enters his bedroom, where Suze and Teddy both are. Arthur and Teddy kiss passionately while Suze embraces Arthur from behind as she looks at the camera.

Cast

In the feature audio commentary on the Blu-ray release of the film, Kramer confirms that Chris Eigeman is the voice of Arthur's father on the phone in a scene."Feature Audio Commentary". ''Please Baby Please'' (2022) Directed by Amanda Kramer. lu-ray, MBS-005 Chicago, IL: Music Box Films.

Director Amanda Kramer makes an uncredited cameo as a sailor in the bar scenes.

Production

Amanda Kramer and Noel David Taylor wrote the screenplay in 2018; Kramer has said that she was able to convince producers to finance the film by calling it “the gay ''West Side Story''," which Kramer described as "a lie" and "a Halloween trick".“Cast and Crew Q&A from LA Premiere.” ''Please Baby Please'' (2022) Directed by Amanda Kramer. lu-ray, MBS-005 Chicago, IL: Music Box Films.

In November 2019, Maya Hawke, Charlie Plummer, and Andrea Riseborough joined the cast of the film, with Kramer set to direct the film In October 2020, Demi Moore, Harry Melling, and Karl Glusman joined the cast of the film, with Hawke and Plummer no longer attached. In November 2020, Ryan Simpkins, Karim Saleh, Jake Choi, Matt D'Elia, Jake Sidney Cohen, Cole Escola, Jaz Sinclair, Dana Ashbrook, and Mary Lynn Rajskub were cast in the film.

Principal photography began in Butte, Montana, in October 2020. At one point the production was shut down for "a very long weekend" due to a COVID-19 outbreak on set.

Release

''Please Baby Please'' had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 26, 2022. In June 2022, Music Box Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released theatrically in the United States on October 28, 2022. The film began streaming on Mubi in the United States on March 3, 2023, and in most other territories on March 31, 2023. It is set to be released on DVD, in addition to a special edition Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome, on May 30, 2023.

Reception

Drew Gregory of Autostraddle gave the film a positive review, calling it "an exploration of gender entirely on its own terms, entirely on ''our'' terms," citing the film's "broad and stylized" dialogue and singling out Escola and Riseborough's performances, while criticizing the treatment of Sinclair's Joanne.

Accolades

''Please Baby Please'' won the 2022 Outfest Grand Jury Award for North American Narrative Feature and was named one of the "10 Best Unsung LGBTQ Films of 2022" by GALECA. The film also receive a 2023 Queerty nomination for best Indie Movie.

References

External links

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2022 films
2022 drama films
2022 LGBT-related films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s musical drama films
American LGBT-related films
American musical drama films
Films about couples
Films about gender
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in apartment buildings
Films set in Manhattan
Films shot in Montana
LGBT-related musical drama films