🔗 Share this article Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the Established Order Capturing the metropolitan unease and vibrancy of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's bracing drama zooms in on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) stands at a pivotal juncture; deserted by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others. On an evening out with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the pulsating light of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking. A Study of Empathy Instead of Exploitation Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness. In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for temporary happiness. "The city are fraught with peril, yet they are also the space where they can find their own family, too." A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and financial instability. Intimidation from dubious individuals in the underworld pale in comparison to the dread of institutional observation and incarceration, epitomized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol. Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have been failed by the system. The film functions as a poignant look into making ends meet, chosen family, and the pursuit of self within a unforgiving urban landscape.