THE SECRET AGENT

Special Features: Opening Night

[O AGENTE SECRETO]
Kleber Mendonça Filho (AQUARIUS, BACURAU, NEIGHBORING SOUNDS) puts his distinctive stamp on the growing genre of films wrestling with the history of the Brazilian dictatorship (which was in power from 1964 to 1985) with THE SECRET AGENT, an intriguing counterpart to Walter Salles’ I’M STILL HERE, last year’s Oscar® winner for Best International Feature Film. Mendonça Filho’s sprawling tale excels at conveying the texture of Brazilian life in 1977, where the threat of repressive violence is always present, even as a version of “normal” life goes on. Wagner Moura plays Marcelo Alves, a widower and former state university research scientist who has gone into hiding after running afoul of a greedy industrialist’s corrupt privatization scheme. Marcelo takes up residence in a Recife boarding house run by the septuagenarian leftist Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), who provides shelter to a motley assortment of former journalists, activists and political undesirables in need of refuge before they move on to a place of greater safety. After several years in hiding, Marcelo is now ready to collect his young son from his in-laws and leave Brazil. But his resurfacing also draws the attention of his enemy’s contract killers, whose plot to kill him comes to a head during Recife’s carnival celebrations. Mendonça Filho deploys an Altman-esque ensemble of colorful characters; zesty needle drops of disco and pop; and carefully curated late ‘70s vintage clothing, cars and design not merely for nostalgic or comedic purposes but as a method of historical recapture and reconnection. The historic Recife movie palaces visited in Mendonça Filho’s 2023 documentary PICTURES OF GHOSTS make crucial reappearances here, with the Boa Vista theater serving as the workplace of projectionist Seu Alexandre (Carlos Francisco), Marcelo’s father-in-law, and local screenings of THE OMEN and JAWS inflaming mad passions across all ages and political affiliations. –Todd Hitchcock

Winner, Best Actor (Wagner Moura), Best Director, FIPRESCI Prize and AFCAE Art House Cinema Award, 2025 Cannes Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Kleber Mendonça Filho; PROD Emilie Lesclaux, Wagner Moura. Brazil/France/Germany/Netherlands, 2025, color, 158 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Run Time: 158 Minutes

Opening Date: Thursday, September 18, 2025

Genre: Thriller

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