🔗 Share this article Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System Evoking the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama centres on those who live on the fringes of an ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others. On an late-night excursion with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler more than twice his age. Illuminated by the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their initial encounter is physical and passionate, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and narcotics trafficking. A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Sensationalism Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding as opposed to as a melodramatic morality play. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness. In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with busy lanes and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for fleeting joy. "The city might be filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can discover chosen kin, too." A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power Ronaldo is both a lover and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and monetary insecurity. Dangers posed by dubious individuals in the underworld are overshadowed by the fear of state surveillance and incarceration, represented by the looming presence of police officers in the area. Baby is particularly impactful as a perceptive study of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the social system. The film stands as a moving examination into making ends meet, chosen family, and the quest for purpose within a demanding urban landscape.