The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System
Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the innocent young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming 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 tinge of peril. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the underground scene of sex work and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with cocky bravado and poignant gullibility. To his customers, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as rootless people grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The streets are fraught with peril, yet they are also the space where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complex Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by envy and monetary insecurity. Intimidation from shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of government monitoring and imprisonment, symbolized by the constant sight of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as an astute portrait of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film ultimately serves as a moving examination into resilience, chosen family, and the pursuit of self within a harsh urban landscape.
