The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the System
Evoking the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s gripping drama centres on those who live on the fringes of an ever-changing metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; left behind by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his rowdy group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a neon-lit porn cinema, their initial encounter is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker 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 electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for temporary happiness.
"The streets can be riddled with risk, yet they are the place where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and economic precarity. Threats from dubious individuals in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the fear of state surveillance and jail time, represented by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the forgotten souls who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film stands as a heartfelt look into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the search for identity within a harsh urban landscape.
