🔗 Share this article The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Lost in the Established Order Evoking the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s bracing drama zooms in on those who exist on the margins of an ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the innocent 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 meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the pulsating light of a neon-lit porn cinema, their initial encounter is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the shadowy world of prostitution and selling drugs. A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Exploitation Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness. In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for temporary happiness. "The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are where they can find their own family, too." A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and monetary insecurity. Dangers posed by shady figures in the criminal underworld are overshadowed by the fear of state surveillance and incarceration, epitomized by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds. Baby is particularly impactful as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have fallen through the cracks the established structure. The film functions as a heartfelt examination into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the quest for purpose within a harsh urban landscape.