The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift 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 ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his rowdy group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler significantly older than his age. Shrouded in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the shadowy world of prostitution and drug dealing.
A Study of Empathy Instead of Exploitation
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with cocky bravado and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape are fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by jealousy and economic precarity. Intimidation from shady figures in the underworld are overshadowed by the anxiety about government monitoring and incarceration, symbolized by the constant sight of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the lost people who have been failed by the established structure. The film stands as a heartfelt look into resilience, chosen family, and the quest for self within a harsh urban landscape.
