The Secret Agent (2025) Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho

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This Brazilian crime comedy, from director Kleber Mendonça Filho, aroused my attention after its popular debut at the esteemed Cannes Film Festival, winning multiple awards, and then even more so after it received multiple Oscar nominations, including 'Best Picture' and 'Actor In A Leading Role'. Even with my anticipation for the film, I deliberately didn't look up much about the film, instead preferring to go into it at least mostly blind.

With the vast majority of the story taking place in 1970's Brazil, it should come as little surprise to know that the film cultivated a slick and believable 70's aesthetic. The costumes and the camera in particular felt very much of the time, and allowed the story to feel as authentic as possible. It my review was purely based on aesthetics, this would receive a very commendable rating, but, unfortunately, I did have some issues.

I found that the film had a very meandering pace, which made it a little challenging to sit through at points, especially with it being almost entirely in Portuguese. I will freely admit that this would be less of an issue if I spoke the language, but, I cannot pretend as though I did not struggle. With that said, I found no issues in regards to the quality of the dialogue or narration. On the contrary, I thought it was all very good.

In fact, I thought the writing was, on the whole, extremely good. In particular, I felt that the characterisation was very good, especially for the film's protagonist, who guided the story forward very effectively. I do have a soft spot for anti-authoritarian narratives, and this one was very smoothly done, for the most part. There was only really one moment that felt a little bit preachy, in regards to the film's message, but, in my opinion, it gets a free pass because we should be loud about opposing authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships.

Wagner Moura's performance in the film's leading role was wonderfully charismatic, and intensely compelling. He didn't over-act, which felt like a very shrewd decision on his part. Keeping the character low-key fed into his mystique and personality all the more. I can see why Moura's performance has been so popular with critics - he carried this film to far greater heights than I think it may have reached without him.

The supporting cast all deserved their fair share of praise as well, because, quite frankly, they all delivered very good performances as well. The most memorable from the cast were; Carlos Francisco, Tânia Maria, and Robério Diógenes - all three of them felt believable and engaging to watch, particularly Maria, who was my favourite of the three.

Overall, I thought this was a good film with a strong narrative, but one that requires a lot of patience, at times. If it had been edited down a little bit, I think it could have been a lot snappier, without sacrificing the emotions that were built-up throughout its narrative. I really wanted to love this film, but it was just lacking in a few key areas. I still enjoyed it, but I could not stop myself from feeling like it could have been a little bit better.