Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order
Evoking the urban restlessness and vibrancy of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s gripping drama centres on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) stands at a pivotal juncture; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his boisterous group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their introductory rendezvous is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and selling drugs.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a melodramatic morality play. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his customers, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as unmoored souls grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The city are filled with danger, yet they are also the space where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and monetary insecurity. Threats from nefarious characters in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the anxiety about government monitoring and jail time, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers in the area.
Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the system. The film functions as a moving look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
