Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's bracing drama centres on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Illuminated by the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is physical and passionate, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with cocky bravado and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for fleeting joy.
"The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and economic precarity. Intimidation from nefarious characters in the underworld seem minor next to the dread of state surveillance and jail time, symbolized by the looming presence of police officers in the area.
Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the lost people who have been failed by the social system. The film stands as a moving exploration into survival, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
