Title – The Secret Agent (2025)

Director – Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau)

Cast – Wagner Moura, Carlos Francisco, Tânia Maria

Plot – Set in Brazil during great civil unrest in the late 1970’s, former professor with a mystery past Armando Solimões (Moura) moves to a small town in hope of starting a fresh life but his past begins to catch up with him.

“I’m not a violent person”

Review by Eddie on 18/02/2026

I couldn’t shake the feeling with The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian set epic that takes us back to the political upheaval in the country in the late 1970’s, that what I was witnessing was a decent film that has been made out to be a great one, one that has managed to receive amongst many other plaudits 4 Oscar nominations that should have arguably been taken up by other films of the 2025 class.

Clocking in at a bum-numbing two hours and 40 minutes, Agent see’s Filho deliver an on paper simplistic set up in a complicated way, creating an at times downright messy and convoluted plot line that is brilliantly filmed and staged but devoid of much heart and soul as Wagner Moura’s critical darling performance as Armando Solimões walks us through this pretty mess.

Opening with a fantastic segment at a rural gas station during Brazil’s Carnival holiday period in a time in the country where corruption, civil unrest and political upheaval was running rife through the nation, Agent kicks off with a bang but at multiple time falls of the cliff with unnecessary scenes and an unwarranted storytelling delivery that makes Agent at times hard to really connect with and follow, despite its repeated attempts to show you how smart it all is.

Receiving Oscar nominations in categories that includes coveted spots for Best Feature, Best Casting and Best Actor, it’s particularly sad that Agent’s prominence in these spaces took spots from the likes of Jesse Plemons or Joel Edgerton in the acting space or Train Dreams in the Best Casting category and while Moura certainly gives it his all, his much lauded performance here doesn’t exactly demand we stand to attention.

Having long been a prominent player in the likes of hit shows such as Narcos or Dope Thief and films such as Civil War and Elite Squad, Moura is as good as his ever been but it doesn’t feel like a performance or role that will be talked about in the years yet to come, with the talented performer overshadowed here by the likes of Tânia Maria as Dona Sebastiana, a character you almost wish would become the central focus of the film.

Everything is all very unconventional here in a lot of ways, the way in which the film is edited, its much talked about final act and zany score from composers Tomaz Alves Souza Mateus Alves all working to create the odd vibe Filho was going for but you can’t help but escape the feeling that Agent was one of those films, one of a few that come around every year, where critics didn’t want to speak up against it and general public didn’t want to buck the trend and suggest it just wasn’t as good as many have made it out to be.

Final Say –

The Secret Agent is a perfectly decent film but one that outstays its welcome on more than one occasion and benefits little from its odd storytelling approach. Pretty to look at and unquestionably unique, when you consider the other films contending for this year’s Best Picture Oscar, this one stands out for all the wrong reasons.

3 filing cabinets out of 5