My quick rating – 6.9/10. It’s been a while since I managed to watch every nominee in the Best Picture lineup, but this year I get to make an educated guess at the eventual winner after watching all 10. Unfortunately, The Secret Agent probably won’t be the one taking home the big trophy.
Set in Brazil during 1977, the film follows Marcelo, a quiet technology expert played by Wagner Moura. He is on the run and trying to reconnect with his son. His journey leads him to Recife during Carnival, which sounds like the kind of crazy celebration where someone on the lam might blend in nicely. Wrong! The city quickly proves to be anything but a safe haven.
The Secret Agent opens with a montage of old photographs and upbeat music that paints the era full of “great mischief”. Almost immediately, though, things get strange in that artsy “this might mean something or it might just look cool” way. One early scene features police standing near a dead body that seemingly has nothing to do with them, just lying there like an awkward party guest no one wants to acknowledge.
After some road travel through genuinely gorgeous scenery, we arrive at Part 1: Boy’s Nightmare. Marcelo settles into an apartment building run by the warm and seemingly innocent Dona, played by Tânia Maria. Naturally, when someone is introduced as adorable in a thriller, your brain immediately starts asking how long that innocence will last. The building houses a variety of refugees and oddball residents, including a cat with two faces that looks like it wandered in from a completely different genre. Symbolism? Possibly. Reoccurring nightmare? On the way.
Director Kleber Mendonça Filho doesn’t shy away from the grisly when the moment calls for it. A shark-related scene involving a body and a missing leg proves that point pretty quickly. Meanwhile, the story splinters into other threads, including a grim execution sequence in São Paulo that suggests multiple storylines will eventually connect.
Part 2, Identification Documents Service, slows things down considerably. In fact, it slows them down so much that some conversations stretch far beyond the payoff. It takes nearly two hours before the film finally snaps back to life with a moment that, without spoiling anything, gives someone a very literal “leg up” on the sexual revolution. Yes, the movie suddenly wakes up just long enough to remind you it has a sense of humor buried somewhere inside its moody runtime.
Part 3, Blood Transfusion, arrives with about 40 minutes left and finally delivers some real urgency. A shootout turns graphic quickly, reinforcing the director’s commitment to showing violence without flinching. At some point, the storytelling approach becomes more interesting. I missed exactly when we first see it, but students listen to old tape recordings documenting past events. The film visually reconstructs what they’re hearing as the story unfolds.
Visually, The Secret Agent is excellent. The production design nails the 1970s look, especially the cars, and Recife feels like a living, breathing character rather than just a backdrop. The film is packed with eccentric personalities played by an equally eccentric cast, keeping the atmosphere unpredictable.
Moura gives a solid performance, but it’s far too subdued for me to give him the Best Actor nod. Marcelo spends most of the film operating at the same emotional volume level, which doesn’t always match with what is swirling around him.
In the end, what could have been an inventive political thriller ends up feeling like a collage of familiar Brazilian themes. Corruption, nostalgia, and political tension – without enough weight to tie it all together. It’s technically accomplished and looks great, but dramatically hollow and, frankly, way longer than it needed to be.
Sometimes, style carries a film a long way. Here, it carries it 20 minutes shy of three hours…which was way too far in my eyes.
