Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the System
Capturing the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama centres on those who live on the fringes of an constantly evolving metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the innocent young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler significantly older than his age. Illuminated by the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the clandestine realm of prostitution and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and touching naivety. To his customers, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as unmoored souls cling on to one another for fleeting joy.
"The city might be fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and economic precarity. Threats from dubious individuals in the criminal underworld are overshadowed by the dread of state surveillance and incarceration, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the forgotten souls who have been failed by the established structure. The film functions as a poignant look into survival, non-biological kinship, and the quest for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
