The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Channelling the urban restlessness and vibrancy 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 (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; abandoned 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 (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of prostitution and drug dealing.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding rather than as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now using the alias Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with cocky bravado and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for temporary happiness.
"The streets can be fraught with peril, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control
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 dubious individuals in the shadow economy are overshadowed by the anxiety about institutional observation and imprisonment, symbolized by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film functions as a poignant examination into making ends meet, found community, and the quest for self within a harsh urban landscape.
