In 1950s Manhattan, a newlywed couple witnesses a murder and becomes the obsession of a greaser gang, awakening a sleeping quandary about the couple's sexual identity.[4][5]
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.[6]
Director Amanda Kramer makes an uncredited cameo as a sailor in the bar scenes.[6]
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".[7]
Please Baby Please had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 26, 2022.[10] In June 2022, Music Box Films acquired distribution rights to the film.[11] It was released theatrically in the United States on October 28, 2022.[12] The film began streaming on Mubi in the United States on March 3, 2023, and in most other territories on March 31, 2023.[13] It is set to be released on DVD,[14] in addition to a special edition Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome,[15] on May 30, 2023.
The official motion picture soundtrack was released on November 22, 2023[16] featuring the score composed and performed by Giulio Carmassi and Bryan Scary.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 60 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "It'll be too campy for some, but Please Baby Please benefits from an artful aesthetic that's just as striking as Andrea Riseborough's performance."[17] In addition to the critics' consensus, 98% of the over 500 audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive.[18]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[19]
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.[20]
Accolades
Please Baby Please won the 2022 Outfest Grand Jury Award for North American Narrative Feature[21] and was named one of the "10 Best Unsung LGBTQ Films of 2022" by GALECA.[22] The film also receive a 2023 Queerty nomination for best Indie Movie.[23]
References
^"About". GiulioCarmassi.com. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
