Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order
Channelling the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama centres 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) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his boisterous group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic 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 quickly introduces Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and selling drugs.
A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Sensationalism
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as unmoored souls grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The city might be riddled with risk, yet they are where they can find their own family, too."
A Complex Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and economic precarity. Intimidation from dubious individuals in the underworld are overshadowed by the anxiety about institutional observation and incarceration, symbolized by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is most powerful as an astute portrait of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film functions as a poignant exploration into making ends meet, chosen family, and the pursuit of self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
