, Marinheiro das Montanhas (2021) and Firebrand (2023)
Under a burning sky on the side of the road on the coast of Ceara, Motel Destino is the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. One night, the arrival of a young Herald definitely changes the daily life of the place.. The sixth film by director Karim Aïnouz that will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, after Madame Satã (2002), O Abismo Prateado (2011), The Invisible Life of Eurídica Gusmão (2019).
The cast does a great job of contributing to the growing tension between them
Directed by Karim Aïnouz, the film offers a mixture of desire, love and crime in a story that follows a young Herald who finds refuge in a motel by the beach, where he is soon immersed in unexpected situations where erotic tensions and tension come to the surface as he hides from the gangsters who follow him, Portuguese for fate, sex is a motel in in which the lives of Herald, Dayana and Elias will intersect. The film is about what fate has in store for these characters, who seem to defy their own fate more than once. Dayana and Elias, the owners of the motel, will find in the Herald not only a young man they like and are willing to help, but also the seed that will blossom into unforeseen challenges in their lives.
The film’s cinematography constantly enhances the location and surrounding elements of Motel Destino
The looks that speak more than enough to interpret their owner’s intentions are the physical manifestations of said tension. Sometimes they are the product of desire, sometimes of jealousy, but they are always there, ready to show what what they feel. Beaches, palm trees, sand, pools, a palette of bright colors, elements that convey hot summer days in which desire flourishes.
A film about emancipation from what we know to be our everyday lives
A desire that is also manifested in their bodies, especially when they are naked, channeling the doses of eroticism that must be released, but also their immanent vulnerability. When the day comes to an end and night takes its place, the location conveys the threatening dangers of relationships connected in a motel. The dimly lit highways, the neon lights of the motel and the secrets hidden within its walls open the door to dangerous destinies ready to be realized.