Monday October 17th passed so quickly that I only saw Amanda Kramer’s “Please, Baby, Please” from the program, which was screened in a very busy screening in the Great Hall cinema of the Splendid Palace. It is a film that attracts for its brightness and musicality, dedicated to the theme of the awareness of sexual identity in the union of the spouses Suze and Arthur.
Although the action of the film takes place in the 1960s, the attraction to the time should be seen as a decoration. The introduction of the film is a reference to the plot of the musical “West Side Story”, only this time two men of “opposite gangs or opposite sexuality” fall in love, who have to hide their feelings due to hatred and homophobia. of those around them. The theatricality borrowed from the musical creates a kind of challenge to follow the plot, simply because this form is not so familiar here.
“Please, baby, please” movie
Photo: Riga IFF
Jazz and beatnik poetry also plays a role in the film, representing intellectualism and sensitivity, as well as sexual, religious and personal freedom. There is a “tough breolin band”, a reference to the “Teddy Boy Movement” which arose in Britain after World War II, when groups of young people adopted a dandy style of dress, also influenced by King Edward VII, under whom he served . They represent the rock and roll audience and with their clothing style they later influenced the fashion of the subculture as well.
One of the characters in the film is also a very real and dramatic drag queen who performs the song “Since I Don’t Have You” by “Guns N ‘Roses”. In the 1960s in America, the “drag” movement was said to be quite active, as documented by Frank Simons in the film “The Queen” (1968). Then there’s the wife of the rich husband played by Demi Moore or the dangerous housewife who fills her life with an expensive kitchen appliance she doesn’t use, vibrating devices and young lovers.
“Please, baby, please” movie
Photo: Riga IFF
The movie “Please, baby, please” is absolutely full of wonderful references. How well has the domestic audience navigated Western pop culture? References give context. Still, the essence of “Please, baby, please” can be summed up in one sentence. It is a film that questions the construction of social roles in which everyone has a single, specific, immutable role. In the film, violence is like a sublimation of repressed sexuality. Characters undergo transformations, hatch like butterflies or die. “Please, baby, please” is playful and brutal at the same time, teasing the viewer without giving a final answer on how they should feel about what they saw. Anyway, I still have the song “Since I Don’t Have You” in my head after the movie.
Immediately after seeing the film, I asked the audience I met their thoughts and advice for the next few days.
Mount Fricmane
Photo: Aiga Leitholde / LSM
Monta: “Please, Baby, Please” suggests the role of men in society. A man is a gender, but masculinity is an attitude, so women can be masculine too. It seems that the film does not cause any surprises for today’s youth, at least for me. it seems obvious. Very “equalized” or made equal to people, regardless of the outward appearance. Provocative if you are not an open minded person. I will also go to Denī Kotė’s “Tāda vasara” at the Riga IFF and on Friday at the “K. Suns” cinema he will watch the short film program “.
Katrina Diamond
Photo: Aiga Leitholde / LSM
Katrina: “If you watch the movie” Please, baby, please “analytically and reflecting, you can gain profound insights. The plot changes rapidly, similar to situations in life. When a man loves a man, but he is married with a woman. There is love between them, but it is not physical. It is a coexistence that accepts. It is also relevant in our society. The killings and the fights, the death in the film – all of this is beside us every day. we look – perhaps with our mouths open, perhaps with our mouths closed. We look, but we don’t do anything. And I liked the music in the film. “
Mielis Putniņš
Photo: Aiga Leitholde / LSM
Miķelis: “Please, baby, please” seemed like a movie with potential, but somehow it didn’t convince me until the end. There were moments in the film that were beautiful, with humor and life, but they generally dissolved. Maybe it’s the slang used in the film and the theatricality that keeps you at a distance as a viewer. At some point you begin to appreciate what you see as stylistic, yet the film didn’t fascinate me. I try to watch at least one movie a day at the IFF in Riga, I’m planning Tom Harjo’s film “Sēklis”, I still want to see Sentsov’s “Rhino”, Pasolini’s “The Decameron”.
What to try in Riga IFF in the next few days?
If you missed the scheduled screening of the film at the cinema, it is worth knowing that most of the films from the Riga IFF program can also be seen online until October 23, including “Please, baby, please”.
In the program of the festival on Wednesday and Thursday in collaboration with the Kiev Critics’ Week, there are also free discussions, for example whether Eastern European directors consciously or unconsciously adapt their films to the perception of the Western European audience? (Discussions can also be followed live on the LSM.lv portal.)
Lovers of the character and sitcoms will love Andreas Dresen’s Rabia Kurnas versus George W. Bush. The “Bengali Variation” by Siegfried, a French composer, musician and director living in Latvia, will instead offer to follow the love story of the characters.
Par Riga IFF
This year, the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF) brings together local and international audiences for the ninth time for one of the most important film events in the Baltic Sea region: from 13 to 23 October, the Riga IFF program will be screened by person and online, in 12 sections and 6 competitions, more than 100 films by local, European and world filmmakers.
In the ninth year of the festival, viewers will be offered carefully selected news from the world’s leading film festivals, national film premieres and visions by brilliant authors. A program of events is also planned during the festival, created in collaboration with the Kiev Critics’ Week, a program of contemporary Ukrainian cinema and an international series of discussions on postcolonialism in the media space.
