Motel Destino

Motels have a cinematic reputation as providing a bolthole to drifters, ne’er do wells and those with sexual tastes that can’t be serviced at home. Motel Destino, the setting for Karim Aïnouz’s claustrophobic, grotty noir, is no different.

The Love Motel near the beach in northern Brazil is run by manager Elias (Fábio Assunção) and his wife Dayana (Nataly Rocha), who cater to their customers’ every sexual deviancy. Heraldo (Iago Xavier), a young man employed by a female gang boss named “Bambina” stumbles into the motel one night with a conquest – who robs him and leaves him locked in a room.

As he is unable to take part in a gangland hit he was supposed to carry out, his “brother” is killed in the act. Forced to go on the run from Bambina, he returns to Motel Destino, offering to pay back the money he owes for his room by working, and as a good excuse to hide in the motel. Dayana, who is in an unhappy marriage with her violent and sexually sordid husband, takes pity on Heraldo, and he joins the couple as a handyman and third wheel.

Inevitably, given the endless rutting going on around them – which can almost constantly be heard through the motel’s walls – the sexual tension between the older Dayana and Heraldo reaches breaking point.

Motel Destino is excellently acted, with Xavier convincing as a young man on constant edge, Rocha convincing as the stifled Dayana and Assunção frighteningly unhinged as Elias. Within the motel, Aïnouz also creates a narrow, neon-lit world in which perversion and mental deterioration takes hold – with the action rarely taking place outside until a madcap finale.

Yet if those are strengths, they are also its weakness, as Motel Destino really will be too much for some audiences – and certain scenes are uncomfortable to watch. The central relationship between Dayana and Heraldo can also be a bit emotionally stunted, despite its leads’ chemistry, due to the sordid world in which it must take place. In fact, the claustrophobic nature of the motel setting also means there’s little room to breathe and makes its runtime a bit of a slog.

No doubt some will love Motel Destino as a grimy, full-on sex-filled noir that makes you feel a bit unclean to watch. That’s a warning as well, however, as you may need a long, soapy shower after watching just to wash the grime off.

Mark Worgan

Motel Destino does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

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Watch the trailer for Motel Destino here: