The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Evoking the city's relentless energy and vibrancy of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's gripping drama zooms in on those who exist on the margins of an ever-changing metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Illuminated by the flickering glow of a XXX cinema, their initial encounter is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of the sex trade and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. 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, teeming with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape might be filled with danger, yet they are also the space where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and economic precarity. Dangers posed by dubious individuals in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of state surveillance and jail time, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the forgotten souls who have been failed by the social system. The film stands as a poignant look into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the quest for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.
