Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System
Evoking the metropolitan unease and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama focuses on those who inhabit the outskirts of an ever-changing metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Shrouded in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the clandestine realm of sex work and drug dealing.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a melodramatic morality play. Now going by the name of Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The streets are fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is both a lover and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and financial instability. Threats from dubious individuals in the shadow economy pale in comparison to the dread of state surveillance and imprisonment, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the lost people who have been failed by the social system. The film functions as a moving look into survival, chosen family, and the search for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.
