Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order
Channelling the urban restlessness and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler over double his age. Bathed in the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of prostitution and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now using the alias Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The streets can be fraught with peril, yet they are 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. Threats from shady figures in the underworld are overshadowed by the anxiety about government monitoring and jail time, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a keen observation of the lost people who have been failed by the social system. The film ultimately serves as a heartfelt look into survival, non-biological kinship, and the search for identity within a demanding urban landscape.