Under the burning sky of a coastal road in Ceará, the Motel Destino is the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. One evening, the arrival of young Heraldo definitively transforms the daily life of the place. Sixth film directed by Karim Aïnouz to receive its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, after Madame Satã (2002), O Abismo Prateado (2011), Nevidljivi život Eurídice Gusmão (2019), Marinheiro das Montanhas (2021) and Firebrand (2023). Directed by Karim Aïnouz, the film offers a mix of desire, love and crime in a story that follows young Heraldo finding refuge in a beachside motel, where he is soon plunged into unexpected situations where erotic tension and power surface while hiding from the gangsters who are looking for him. Motel Destino, destiny in Portuguese, is a sex motel where the lives of Heraldo, Dayana and Elias will intersect. It is a film about what destiny has in store for these characters, who more than once seem to defy their own destiny. Dayana and Elias, the owners of the motel, will find in Heraldo not only a young boy they love and are willing to help, but also a seed that will make unexpected challenges bloom in their lives. The actors do an excellent job contributing to the tension that builds between them. Looks that say more than enough to interpret the intentions of their owner are the physical manifestations of this tension. Sometimes they are the product of desire, and other times of jealousy, but they are always there, ready to express what they feel. The cinematography of the film constantly reinforces the place and the elements that surround the Motel Destino. Beaches, palm trees, sand, swimming pools, a palette of light colors, elements that evoke hot summer days where desire blooms. A desire that also manifests itself in their bodies, especially when they are naked, channeling doses of eroticism that must be released, but also of their immanent vulnerability. When the day ends and night takes its place, the place transmits the dangers that await the relationships formed by the motel. The barely 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. A film about the emancipation of what we know constitutes our daily lives. Between the walls of the Motel Destino, the corridors widen by desire alone, carnal desire in its purest form, but also the desire for a better life far from what defines us.