Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System
Channelling the city's relentless energy and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama zooms in 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) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Illuminated by the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The urban landscape are fraught with peril, yet they are where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and monetary insecurity. Intimidation from nefarious characters in the underworld pale in comparison to the anxiety about institutional observation and jail time, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers in the area.
Baby is especially potent as a keen observation of the disenfranchised individuals who have been failed by the established structure. The film functions as a heartfelt exploration into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the search for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
