Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Capturing the metropolitan unease and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving 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 impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his rowdy group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler more than twice his age. Illuminated by the wavering neon of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of sex work and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape are fraught with peril, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and economic precarity. Threats from dubious individuals in the underworld pale in comparison to the dread of institutional observation and incarceration, represented by the looming presence of police officers in the area.
Baby is especially potent as a keen observation of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film functions as a heartfelt look into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the search for purpose within a unforgiving urban landscape.
