The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Evoking the metropolitan unease and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's unflinching drama zooms in on those who live on the fringes of an constantly evolving metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of sex work and drug dealing.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with bustling alleyways and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape can be filled with danger, yet they are also the space where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is both a lover and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by envy and economic precarity. Threats from shady figures in the shadow economy seem minor next to the dread of state surveillance and incarceration, represented by the hovering figures of police officers in the area.
Baby is most powerful as a keen observation of the disenfranchised individuals who have fallen through the cracks the social system. The film functions as a poignant exploration into making ends meet, chosen family, and the search for purpose within a demanding urban landscape.
