Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of Queer Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the System
Channelling the city's relentless energy and vibrancy of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s bracing drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a XXX cinema, their introductory rendezvous is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding as opposed to as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and vibrant storefronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as rootless people hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The city are riddled with risk, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and monetary insecurity. Intimidation from dubious individuals in the shadow economy are overshadowed by the anxiety about government monitoring and imprisonment, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the forgotten souls who have slipped through the gaps the social system. The film ultimately serves as a heartfelt look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the quest for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
