Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order
Evoking the city's relentless energy and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's bracing drama centres on those who live on the fringes of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor 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 queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than his age. Illuminated by the pulsating light of a XXX cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and selling drugs.
A Study of Empathy Instead of Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and touching naivety. To his customers, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, overflowing with bustling alleyways and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for fleeting joy.
"The streets are fraught with peril, yet they are also the space where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated 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. Threats from shady figures in the criminal underworld are overshadowed by the anxiety about state surveillance and imprisonment, symbolized by the constant sight of police officers in the area.
Baby is most powerful as an astute portrait of the forgotten souls who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film ultimately serves as a poignant exploration into survival, found community, and the quest for self within a demanding urban landscape.
