Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the System
Capturing the metropolitan unease and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama centres on those who inhabit the outskirts of an constantly evolving metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is physical and passionate, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy instead of as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape might be filled with danger, yet they are also the space where they can find their own family, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and economic precarity. Intimidation from nefarious characters in the criminal underworld pale in comparison to the dread of government monitoring and incarceration, represented by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is most powerful as an astute portrait of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the social system. The film functions as a moving look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
