Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, Fábio Assunção
Welcome to the neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel shimmering under Brazil’s burning blue skies and run by hot-headed Elias (Fábio Assunção) and his restless younger wife Dayana (Nataly Rocha). The unexpected arrival of 21-year-old Heraldo (Iago Xavier), on the run after a botched hit, disrupts the established order. As this tropical noir scenario plays out, unspooling loyalties and desires intertwine to reveal that destiny has its own enigmatic design.
An erotic thriller directed and co-written by Karim Aïnouz (The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, Firebrand) and photographed in lurid Day-Glo colours by Hélène Louvart, Motel Destino screened to acclaim in Competition at Cannes 2024. Brilliantly performed by its three leads, it’s a sweaty, sensual dance of power, desire and liberation, full of humour and kitsch, shot on location in Brazil’s Cearà region, where Aïnouz was born and raised (and which he previously depicted on screen in 2014’s queer romance Futuro Beach).
