🔗 Share this article Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System Channelling the metropolitan unease and vibrancy of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama focuses on those who live on the fringes of an ever-changing metropolis. Newly freed 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 rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler significantly older than his age. Bathed in the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the clandestine realm of sex work and selling drugs. A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness. In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for fleeting joy. "The streets might be filled with danger, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too." A Complicated Dynamic of Affection and Power Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and economic precarity. Threats from nefarious characters in the shadow economy are overshadowed by the fear of government monitoring and imprisonment, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds. Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the system. The film ultimately serves as a heartfelt look into survival, found community, and the search for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.