🔗 Share this article Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of Queer Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the System Channelling the metropolitan unease and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s bracing drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others. On an evening out with his boisterous group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler significantly older than his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the underground scene of sex work and selling drugs. A Study of Empathy Instead of Sensationalism The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy instead of as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with cocky bravado and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness. In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for momentary bliss. "The city are filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can find their own family, too." A Complex Dynamic of Affection and Power Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and monetary insecurity. Threats from shady figures in the shadow economy pale in comparison to the fear of government monitoring and incarceration, represented by the looming presence of police officers in the area. Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have fallen through the cracks the established structure. The film ultimately serves as a poignant look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the quest for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.