Sure, we all want love, but what lengths would you go to find it? Swedish animator Anna Mantzaris once again captures the gamut of human emotion in a stop-motion film that plunges headfirst into the pitiful and cringy. As its title suggests, “PLEASE” is about wanting and attempting to find love through increasingly unhinged acts of desperation and neediness. Mantzaris’ signature felt characters light fires for marriage proposals, sob in the chip aisle, and hug puppies while waiting for the train.
The writer and director tells Creative Boom that she got the idea for the short film during the early days of the pandemic, when most people were trapped at home. “We became more obsessed with our self-image because we saw ourselves on screens in Zoom calls all day. We spent a lot of time looking at ourselves while feeling disconnected from other people,” she says. “I wanted the characters to try to break out of this bubble, to reach out, to show their longing, but in a not-so-perfect way.”
“PLEASE” is the latest addition to Mantzaris’ growing collection of dark comedies, although this film also counts Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who just this year was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Sentimental Value, among its cast. Presented through a series of vignettes, the felted puppets weave in and out of the animation, and we witness their most heated and pathetic moments.
“I’m interested in the difference between what we show the world and what we actually feel,” she adds. “Presenting the ‘ugly’ feelings through the puppets makes us feel seen. They get to do it for us, so we feel we’re not alone.”
The short film is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit, although a wider release is in the works, too. Watch the trailer on YouTube, and find additional clips—including the dating profile of a particularly discouraged 21-year-old—on Instagram.
