The Film Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the System
Channelling the metropolitan unease and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the impressionable young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for temporary happiness.
"The streets are fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and economic precarity. Threats from shady figures in the underworld are overshadowed by the dread of institutional observation and incarceration, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the system. The film stands as a poignant exploration into making ends meet, found community, and the quest for self within a harsh urban landscape.
