Secret Agent – Film Review

Director – Kleber Mendonça Filho
Writer – Kleber Mendonça Filho
Stars – Robson Andrade, Rubens Santos, Licínio Januário

If you’re familiar with Bacurau from 2019, you will know what writer/ director Kleber Mendonça Filho can create. This film is very different, existing in quite a different genre, but no less skilled.

The film is set in 1977, a time of much Brazilian ‘mischief’, with corruption and abuse of power at the heart of their society. We meet Armando (Wagner Moura), a man on the run for reasons we only slowly start to understand. He is a widower, with his son being minded by his wife’s parents. He moves into an unusual new apartment block, with a variety of quirky denizens, but people from his past life are still trying to find him.

The film is substantial in length, at 2 hours and 40 minutes. It’s also quite slow-moving, with many subplots and characters that are introduced and just as quickly dissolve from view. The brilliant opening scenes give us an isolated petrol station with a dead body covered in cardboard. An indignant petrol pump attendant tells Armando what has occurred, and in truth, there is enough in these characters for a short film of their own, with his yellow Volkswagen Beetle standing resplendent.

It’s a film which is evocative of an era, with beautiful clothes, furniture and cars. You’ll leave the cinema talking about the characters and the images on screen. There are some beautiful vignettes and minor characters who put a smile on your face. If there is a failing, it’s the slow-moving plot, as we piece together what has happened to this man. We see flashes of what went before and realise his plight. The plot issues are relatively minot and there really is so much to absorb your attention and fill your senses in this rich and stylish film. The film was recently nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and it’s a very worthy inclusion.