A first-look image has debuted of Andrea Riseborough, whose credits include “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” and Karl Glusman, who starred in Gaspar Noé’s Cannes entry “Love,” in Amanda Kramer’s “Please Baby Please.” In the challenging image, Glusman is seen branding Riseborough with an iron.
The film also stars Harry Melling, who appeared as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise and in “The Queen’s Gambit,” and Demi Moore. It has its world premiere at next month’s Rotterdam Film Festival. CAA Media Finance is handling sales.
The movie follows bohemian couple Suze and Arthur who, after witnessing a murder in the gritty streets of a surreal 1950s Manhattan, become the dangerous obsession of a greaser gang that “awakens a sleeping quandary about the couple’s sexual identity,” according to press notes. Moore plays Suze’s glamorous upstairs neighbour, who has lovers and – even more impressively – a dishwasher.
Commenting on the film, the Rotterdam Film Festival said: “Big issues, packaged in flamboyantly witty dialogue, are addressed amidst hyper-stylized decors with a theatrical 1950s feel (think a rather dark, campy twist on ‘West Side Story’ (1961) as directed by John Waters). How should one be a ‘real’ man or woman? And, what does the institution of marriage have to do with it?”
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The screenplay is by Kramer and Noel David Taylor.
“Please Baby Please” is the first project from Rivulet Media. Rivulet’s Rob Paris and Mike Witherill produced the film, alongside Gül Karakiz and David Silver. Larry Silver executive produced under the Silver Bullet Entertainment banner.
Kramer, who for several years helmed an underground dance label, is the focus of a tribute at Rotterdam with several of her films screening. The festival commented that her works “showcase bold performances, and grapple with the unknowability and instability of life and human psychology, pushing cinema to its limits.”
Kramer’s past films include chamber piece “Paris Window,” centering on the relationship between adult brother and sister Julian and Sunny, who live together, “Ladyworld,” in which a group of girls are trapped in a basement, with no water or electricity, and “Give Me Pity!,” about young performer Sissy St. Claire, who she is allowed to shine in her very own TV special on Saturday night, but this doesn’t turn out as expected.
