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The Secret Agent
O Agente Secreto
2025 161 min Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands, Argentina R 18+
★7.5
Thriller, Drama, Crime
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
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Description
Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.
Budget:
$5M
US Gross:
$4.28M
Worldwide:
$18.99M
Starring
Robson Andrade
Actor
Rubens Santos
Actor
Licínio Januário
Actor
Awards
Cannes Film Festival 2025
— Best Director
Golden Globe 2026
— Best Actor (Drama)
Golden Globe 2026
— Best International Feature Film
Golden Globe 2026
— Best International Feature Film
Academy Awards 2026
— Best Picture
Academy Awards 2026
— Best Actor
Golden Globe 2026
— Best Picture (Drama)
Cannes Film Festival 2025
— FIPRESCI Prize – Competition
Cannes Film Festival 2025
— AFCAE Award
Cannes Film Festival 2025
— Palme d'Or
Academy Awards 2026
— Best International Feature Film
Cannes Film Festival 2025
— Best Actor
BAFTA 2026
— Best Original Screenplay
BAFTA 2026
— Best International Feature Film
Key opinion
Secret Agent is a visually stunning and atmospheric period piece that offers a complex, unconventional exploration of memory and political trauma in 1970s Brazil. While many critics laud its immersive style and Wagner Moura's performance, the film's fragmented, slow-paced narrative and lack of clear resolution divide audiences between those who find it a rewarding intellectual puzzle and those who find it tedious.
| Acting | Wagner Moura provides a powerful, weary, and naturalistic anchor that elevates the film's complex character study. | |
| Cinematography | The cinematography brilliantly captures the atmosphere of 1970s Brazil, utilizing a lush palette, natural lighting, and sharp period details to immerse the viewer. | |
| Screenplay | The film functions as a slow-burn, non-linear experience that rewards viewers who embrace its ambiguity, while others struggle with its lack of traditional narrative clarity and unresolved subplots. | |
| Pacing | The nearly three-hour runtime is a polarizing feature, seen by some as essential for building its unique, contemplative rhythm and by others as an exhausting source of pacing issues. | |
| Accessibility | The film's dense cultural and historical subtext offers significant thematic depth for those familiar with the context, but risks alienating viewers expecting a standard, fast-paced thriller. |