The 33rd annual Philadelphia Film Festival runs October 17-27, 2024 and features over 100 films this year. Most films play twice and our own Justin Nordell will be sharing “Philly Film Fest Fast Reviews” to give you a taste of the festival so you can pick and choose which films to make for the second screenings!
After newly two years in a juvenile detention center, Wellington (João Pedro Mariano in his acting debut) is finally free and released back to his home in Brazil. The only problem is when he is escorted home by his social worker… his family isn’t there. According to a woman in their apartment building, they moved at the beginning of the year and left no forwarding address. The woman takes pity on him and signs paperwork that Wellington will go into her care, but after giving him a jacket she has no intention of actually housing him. Luckily, with his family having seemingly left him, Wellington has his chosen family to fall back on – a pack of queer and trans teens whom he ran with prior to his incarceration.
One night, his crew sneak into a gay porn theater to steal cell phones from patrons who are… distracted. There, he sees a handsome older gentleman Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro, also in his film debut) whom he thinks is hitting on him but it turns out Ronaldo is a hustler looking to pick up men to pay him for the evening. Embarrassed, Wellington ends up sleeping in the theater the rest of the night until the staff kick him out in the morning. Ronaldo is there waiting and takes Wellington to his apartment, hoping to make him either his conquest or his protege as a baby-faced hustler and drug dealer. Wellington proves to be quite adept at the latter and adopts the titular moniker of Baby.
There have been many coming of age gay films over the years, but what makes Baby feel fresh besides its São Paulo setting is the film’s near constant need to define and re-define what family is and can mean for queer people in the modern age, sometimes all at once. With fantastic performances from debut actors with exceptional chemistry and a wonderful supporting cast, watching Wellington take his Baby steps into the big gay real world, no matter how harrowing, is a captivating watch.
Grade: B+
Catch it at PFF33: Friday, October 25th at 7:15pm at the PFS East
Tickets Available Here: https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/ticketsearchcriteria.aspx?evtinfo=429849
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