The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order
Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama zooms in on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his boisterous group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for temporary happiness.
"The city are filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by jealousy and economic precarity. Threats from shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of institutional observation and incarceration, represented by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the social system. The film stands as a heartfelt exploration into resilience, chosen family, and the quest for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
