Baby

Bluesky

Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) – who will later adopt the name Baby in response to being told not to behave like one – is still a minor when released from prison, but has no interest in being looked after through any of the suggested support services. He wants, he says, to go and find his parents, but it’s pretty clear that they’re long gone. Instead he drifts through the streets of São Paolo, eventually encountering old friends – other queer teenagers pretending to be wilder and more confident that they really know how to be as yet. One, however, does an admirable job of confusing the box office attendant at a porn cinema so that they can all get in without paying. It’s there that Baby meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), the man who will change his life.

Baby claims to be 18. Ronaldo is 42, and the father of a 13-year-old son. He’s at the cinema to hustle, but afterwards he and Baby go to get fast food and he proposes that they shoot a video together; he has a client whom he thinks will like it. He deals strictly with high end, high-paying clients, and persuades the teenager to give sex work a try. Despite an early encounter which leaves him sulking and feeling humiliated, Baby finds that he enjoys it. Ronaldo takes care of business, and they immediately become lovers, a relationship which takes on deeper meaning for both of them over time.

There’s little sign of exploitation here. Ronaldo isn’t asking Baby to do things he doesn’t do himself, and the clients are mostly polite, even friendly. Baby enjoys being enjoyed and looks for new ways to please them in encounters which offer a degree of emotional intimacy as well as sex. Ronaldo looks out for him, teaching him to box, giving him a fatherly talking-to when he tries meth. The film follows the two of them through various ups and downs. Baby’s confidence gradually grows and he becomes more adult, less dependent on the dream of being allowed to be a child again. Ronaldo, however, is less successful, with financial problems gradually undermining the freedom and independence he has worked hard for.

Director/co-writer Marcelo Caetano presents a richly detailed world in which the character of São Paolo comes through strongly. He depicts LGBTQ+ characters in a matter-of-fact way which most cinema has not yet caught up with, acknowledging a world which not only has no need for heterosexuality but is distinct from the heteronormative, far more fluid and unfussy in its dealings. In the course of Baby’s work we see extremes of rich and poor, and yet this is never confused with moral value. It is the things taken for granted, as much as the things that stand out, which shape the tale.

Emotionally intense in places without ever veering into melodrama, this is an intimate but outward-looking film which finds room for some thriller elements towards the end, giving it fresh energy. In exploring a space where cinema has taught outsiders to expect tragedy, it finds resilience and queer joy.

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