Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” is an excellent movie that stretches the probabilities of cinema narrative and approaches to storytelling.
This can be a love letter to cinema and, amongst my favourite type of film, you gained’t get forward of it or guess the place it’s going, ever.
Set through the Brazilian navy dictatorship that lasted from 1964-1985, we meet our protagonist, Armando (Wagner Moura) as he’s passes by city and makes a cease at a fuel station the place a corpse is visibly rotting close by. The way in which the physique is handled is each ghoulish (the proprietor of the station explains the way it bought there) and hilarious (a car drives by with audible screams).
A tense encounter with officers who harass Armando solely provides to the odd, exhilarating really feel the film gives; I couldn’t predict what was coming and simply surrendered to Filho’s storytelling, with anything-goes touches (the looks of a sure cat will turn out to be a speaking level), vivid interval particulars and a most important character whom I used to be at all times rooting for.
The opening units the tone – get snug and be prepared for something, as there’s at all times one thing surprising forward.
A few of this performs like a thriller. At different instances, it’s a hangout film, then it dips into surrealism. There’s a suspenseful chase sequence and a quiet however emotionally wealthy epilogue that gives perspective on the passage of time.
I recommend that audiences simply go together with it and embrace the surprises forward.
Moura has a kind of faces that may convey film star confidence but in addition be weak and open. Moura is great as Marcelo, who’s revealed to be a widow, a former trainer and dissident. Moura performs the function in various levels – we’re watching the making of a film star, in addition to a superb showcase efficiency.
Contemplating the character’s trajectory and the stunning method that Moura contributes to the ultimate portion, that is among the many most vivid performances I’ve seen all yr.
In “American Cinematographer” on-line, DP Evgenia Alexandrova instructed me about her subversive visible strategy to the Brazilian thriller, “The Secret Agent,” utilizing vibrant, saturated colours as a counterpoint to the darkish sluggish burn.https://t.co/6Sbb5yaSlk
— Invoice Desowitz (@BillDesowitz) December 23, 2025
My solely criticism is that the story is complicated and layered however purposely not instructed clearly. Solely after seeing the movie from begin to end and, maybe, a second time, will the whole lot click on. The third act belatedly reveals how the whole lot connects and permits each subplot and character to lastly join.
Though not a spy movie within the conventional sense, the story is corresponding to a John le Carre thriller, with emphasis on setting and character first; the specifics of the story and the way it all connects arrive a lot later.
This can be a wild interval piece that captures Brazil of 1977 below dictatorship and flush with corrupt figures in energy. Nevertheless, describing it that method may recall to mind a dry historic reenactment or a extra typical political thriller, which this totally isn’t.
A tiger shark and a lacking limb (in addition to that corpse within the first scene) turn out to be main plot factors that evolve in stunning and humorous sequences. I gained’t give it away, however the bit with the severed limb could wind up the sequence from “The Secret Agent” that everybody can be speaking about.
Udo Kier has a memorable scene that’s amongst his final performances. Tania Maria steals scenes as Marcelo’s household matriarch and Luciano Chirolli is vivid as a loathsome villain.
There’s a shock of some sort in almost each scene. “The Secret Agent” is sort of a sprawling mini-series that has been skillfully shortened down to 2 and a half hours. It goes by quick and overflows with scenes I can’t wait to revisit.
This is among the finest movies of 2025.
4 Stars