Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Karim Aïnouz
Starring: Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, Fábio Assunção
If the movies have taught us one thing it's that if a criminal on the run checks into a motel, things are inevitably going to get messy. That's certainly the case when 21-year-old hoodlum Heraldo (Iago Xavier) rocks up to the eponymous establishment of Karim Aïnouz's Motel Destino (co-written with Wislan Esmeraldo and Mauricio Zacharias).
Under the thumb of matriarchal mobster Bambina (Fabíola Líper), Heraldo harbours ambitions of leaving his seaside town on Brazil's North East coast and heading to the bright lights of Sao Paulo. When Bambina learns of this she harangues Heraldo into doing one more job for her, that of collecting a debt from a slippery Frenchman. The night before the job Heraldo gets lucky and ends up in the Motel Destino with a horny young woman, only to find she's fleeced his wallet the next morning. Leaving his ID card with the motel owner, Dayana (Nataly Rocha), Heraldo heads back into town where he's greeted with more bad news. The debt collection went fatally wrong in his absence, leaving Heraldo's older brother dead. With Bambino believing Heraldo has betrayed her, the young hood returns to the motel to lie low.
The drama that subsequently unfolds owes more than a little to James M. Cain's 1934 novel 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'. More so than the two American adaptations of Cain's novel, Aïnouz's thriller evokes the sweaty neo-realism of Ossessione, Luchino Visconti's 1943 reworking of Cain's tale. Initially taken under the wing of the admiring Dayana and put to work as a caretaker, Heraldo finds himself treated like a surrogate son by Dayana's husband Elias (Fábio Assunção, who looks like Brad Pitt has been left in the sun too long), echoing a similar dynamic between Massimo Girotti's drifter and Juan de Landa's gas station owner in Visconti's film.
Where Motel Destino stands apart from its obvious influences is in its focus on sweaty sex. It's no surprise when Heraldo and Dayana start making the beast with two backs every time Elias pops into town to buy sex toys for his customers, but Aïnouz adds some one-way homoerotic tension as it becomes clear Elias's interest in Heraldo isn't wholly paternal. The eponymous motel is no regular fleapit, it's a full-on sex motel, designed for the base purpose of hosting clandestine rutting sessions. Such establishments usually market themselves as "love motels," but Elias has no such pretence, boasting of his plans to expand the motel into the realm of "premium fucking."
It's this unique setting that allows us to overlook the derivative nature of Aïnouz's thriller. The gifted French cinematographer Hélène Louvart lends the drama her distinctive blend of sun-baked realism and neon-drenched expressionism, and I don't think there's currently a DP more skilled at capturing sweat on screen. The 16mm images almost seem damp with human fluids, the walls of the setting positively dripping with a mix of sweat and cum. Thank heavens smell-o-vision never took off.
Along with the fascinating setting and the manner in which the director and cinematographer capture its stench of superficial satisfaction, Motel Destino boasts three compelling performances from its leads. Xavier convinces as a young man whose tough talk masks insecurities and the still raw wounds of a broken childhood. Rocha keeps us guessing as to whether Dayana is really a victim here, her stories of abuse at the hands of the controlling Elias incongruent with her manipulative ways. Far from a textbook villain, Assunção adds a layer of vulnerability to the boorish Elias, whose macho posturing can't mask his true feelings.
Motel Destino's plot boils down to the well-worn noir setup of a horny dupe being seduced by a femme fatale into offing her husband. But you don't come to a movie like this for its plot. Aïnouz's film makes up for its narrative deficiencies with a trio of fascinating characters, all of whom are simultaneously innocent and worldly in their own ways, and a superbly sleazy setting that will have you headed straight for the washroom after your screening.
Motel Destino is in UK/ROI cinemas from May 9th.
