17/15
One night, the arrival of the young Heraldo definitively changes the daily life of this place
Tale
Under a scorching sky on the side of a road on the coast of Ceará, the Motel Destino is the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. Sixth film directed by Karim Aïnouz to premiere worldwide at the Cannes Film Festival, after Μαντάμ Σατανάς (2002), O Abismo Prateado (2011), Η αόρατη ζωή της Ευρυδίκης Γκουσμάο (2019), Marinheiro das Montanhas (2021) and Firebrand (2023). “Motel Destino” is a quiet but eventful erotic thriller with a contemporary noir twist, as it tells a story about the need to escape and all the accompanying obstacles that bind it. In this desperate desire to escape, you may find yourself trapped in other situations or finding a place to sleep and a destiny to fulfill.
His initial plan was to commit one last crime and move to São Paulo to find honest work
Our hero, young Heraldo (Iago Xavier), finds both when he uses a motel in the desert area of Ceará as a hideout, escaping from a group of criminals due to his failure with a hit that ends badly for his partner. The motel of the title is run by a couple, middle-aged Elias (Fábio Assunção) and his wife Dayana (Nataly Rocha), he as manager and she as multi-tasking receptionist. In exchange for his help, Heraldo works at the motel, repairing appliances or anything that needs repair and cleaning. In this conjunction of loners, Elias finds in Heraldo a hard-working friend, and Dayana gains a new lover in a torrid romance, a husband hidden from her as well as from the clients who come to the establishment (barely seen, mostly heard by loud sexual moans in the background).
It’s not as spicy as it could be, but it’s satisfying and very exciting stuff
Love blossoms in the new couple, but Heraldo still worries about his friends who flee to find him. Karim Aïnouz’s latest film is engaging, but not quite; sexy and daring, but with little emotion and a lot of unexpected humor. It’s almost as if they’ve taken elements of film noir (lonely, troubled, violent characters) but placed them in a motel located near the incredibly beautiful beaches of Ceará: it’s such a beautiful sight that one feels as if they’ve seen another world. The story has emotional complexity, which is good, but you might feel empty or not have gained or experienced much.
Another of the main draws of “Motel Destino” comes from the performances
At its heart it is a film about the human element of concealment and how characters deal with escaping dangerous situations, hiding from themselves and others (as evidenced by Elias’s small movements in Heraldo) and ultimately each form of escape brings many unexpected outcomes: passion, love, violence or death. Iago and Nataly made an interesting couple, sexually charged and with great chemistry. Although I don’t think their performance is that strong and some of their lines sound weird, I think it suits the role very well. Heraldo becomes the center of attention, and for good reason, because he has a specific, average sex appeal to him that attracts both women and men (we have a fourth employee at the hotel, played by Yuri Yamamoto, who has a thing for Heraldo, but the script relegated him to the background, whispering lines, and then a key moment).
What a performance, what a role!
For a newbie, Iago was pretty good at the more daring sex scenes. And then there’s Fábio Assunção. There’s a whole generation that remembers him as a soap opera idol from a few decades ago, and others who only followed his downfall a while ago. He doesn’t make many films, but that’s why he’s destined to be memorable as a film actor.
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