Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System
Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama centres on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the innocent young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his rowdy group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Bathed in the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Rather Than Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for temporary happiness.
"The city are fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and financial instability. Threats from nefarious characters in the shadow economy seem minor next to the fear of institutional observation and incarceration, epitomized by the looming presence of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as an astute portrait of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the system. The film ultimately serves as a moving look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the search for purpose within a harsh urban landscape.
