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Capturing the city's relentless energy and pulsating life of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama centres on those who inhabit the outskirts of an ever-changing metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) stands at a pivotal juncture; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.

On an late-night excursion with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler over double his age. Illuminated by the pulsating light of a XXX cinema, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and drug dealing.

A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism

The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.

In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as rootless people grasp at one another for temporary happiness.

"The streets might be filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."

A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control

Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by possessiveness and economic precarity. Intimidation from nefarious characters in the underworld seem minor next to the dread of institutional observation and incarceration, symbolized by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds.

Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the lost people who have been failed by the social system. The film ultimately serves as a heartfelt exploration into survival, non-biological kinship, and the quest for purpose within a unforgiving urban landscape.