42/46
Tale
Under a burning sky, on a roadside on the coast of Ceará, Motel Destino is the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. One night, the arrival of the young Heraldo transforms the daily life of the place forever. The sixth film directed by Karim Aïnouz, which will receive its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, following Madame Satã (2002), O Abismo Prateado (2011), In the wake of A. Vida Invisível (2019), Marinheiro das Montanhas (2021) and Firebrand (2023).. "Motel Destino" is a quiet but eventful erotic thriller with traces of a contemporary noir, as it tells a story about the need to escape and all the obstacles that come with such an escape. In this desperate desire to escape, one is trapped in other situations, or finds accommodation and a destiny to fulfill. Our hero, the young Heraldo (Iago Xavier), finds both, using a motel as a hideout in a deserted part of Ceará, failing to escape from a gang of criminals and badly wounding a comrade. His initial plan was to do one last criminal job and move to São Paulo to find honest work. The eponymous motel is run by a couple, middle-aged Elias (Fábio Assunção) and his wife Dayana (Nataly Rocha), he as manager and she as a multi-tasking receptionist. In exchange for helping him, Heraldo works at the motel, fixing electrical things or anything that needs fixing and cleaning. In the tangle of lonely people, Elias finds a hard-working friend in Heraldo, and Dayana takes on a new lover in a whirlwind affair that is kept secret from both her husband and the clients who frequent the place (barely seen, mostly heard with loud sexual moans in the background). Love blossoms with the new couple, but Heraldo remains concerned about his companions who are on the run to find him. Karim Aïnouz’s latest film is compelling, but not entirely; sexy and daring, but with little excitement and a lot of unexpected humor. It almost feels like it has elements of film noir (loners, troubled and violent characters), but is set in a motel set around stunningly beautiful beaches. Ceará – such a beautiful sight, it’s like seeing another world. There’s an emotional complexity to the story, which is good, but it can feel empty or feel like it has gained or experienced little. It’s not as fast-paced as it could be, but it’s satisfying and very exciting. Deep down, it’s a film about the human element of hiding and how these characters deal with fleeing dangerous situations, hiding from themselves and others (as Elias’s little moves on Herald prove), and ultimately the escape has many unexpected outcomes: passion, love, violence or death. "Motel Destino" comes from the acting. Iago and Nataly make an interesting and sexually charged pair with great chemistry. While I don’t find his acting that strong and some of his lines sound strange, I find him very suited to the role. Heraldo is the center of attention for good reason, as he has a particular kind of everyday manly sex appeal. to the one who attracts both women and men (what about a fourth worker in the hotel, played by Yuri Yamamoto, who imagines Heraldo, but the script reduced him to whispered lines in the background. and later a pivotal moment). For a newcomer, Iago has excelled in the most daring sex sequences. Then there’s Fábio Assunção. What a performance, what a role! A whole generation remembers him as the soap opera heartthrob of a few decades ago, and others who just followed his decline a few years ago. He doesn’t do many movies, but that makes him memorable as a film actor.