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Channelling the city's relentless energy and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's bracing drama focuses 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) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.

On an night on the town with his rowdy group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler over double his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the clandestine realm of prostitution and selling drugs.

A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Exploitation

The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with cocky bravado and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.

In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for fleeting joy.

"The urban landscape are fraught with peril, yet they are also the space where they can find their own family, too."

A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control

Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by envy and monetary insecurity. Intimidation from shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of state surveillance and incarceration, epitomized by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds.

Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the social system. The film stands as a poignant exploration into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the quest for purpose within a harsh urban landscape.