🔗 Share this article Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama zooms in on those who live on the fringes of an constantly evolving 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 wide-eyed young man seeks comfort in the arms of others. On an night on the town with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler significantly older than his age. Shrouded in the flickering glow of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and selling drugs. A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding instead of as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care. In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, overflowing with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as unmoored souls 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 at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by possessiveness and economic precarity. Dangers posed by dubious individuals in the criminal underworld pale in comparison to the fear of government monitoring and imprisonment, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol. Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film stands as a moving exploration into making ends meet, found community, and the pursuit of purpose within a harsh urban landscape.