In this excerpt from episode 1802 of No Rest for the Weekend, Yasin Lago and host Jason Godbey review The Secret Agent directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Wagner Moura.
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Music by Christopher Gillard
Written by
Yasin Lago
Jason Godbey
Produced & Created by Jason Godbey
Yasin's review:
Recife is a coastal city in northeastern Brazil known as a major tourist destination famous for its beaches, historic colonial architecture, vibrant cultural scene, and lively Carnaval celebrations. It so happens to be the hometown of filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, writer-director of festival darlings Aquarius (2016) and Bacurau (2019). This is also the setting for his latest project, one that uses the city as a backdrop and a character in the story. That story is the luminous and engaging political thriller, The Secret Agent.
1977, Marcelo (Wagner Moura) has returned to Recife after being away for a few years. Brazil, at this time, is under a military dictatorship, making life difficult and dangerous for the average citizen. But, nevertheless, Marcelo has some business he needs to finish — reestablishing himself in town safely, acquiring some personal information about family, and retrieving the young son he had to leave behind. A former researcher, he was forced to live-on-the-run after crossing a powerful and corrupt local bureaucrat. After some years, still widowed and wanted by the police, he’s back in a community who provided an alias for him amongst the refuge underground. Meanwhile, word of his reemergence has triggered an old enemy’s wrath and long reach into the local police department to post a contract to assassinate Marcelo. A squad of young crooked detectives are assigned to the task with little to work with in the form of photo verification after many years. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, with the cat, or in this case, cats being unaware in the hunt that the mouse is actually much closer than thought — in an office directly downstairs.
Starring Wagner Moura, most well known for the Netflix series Narcos playing Pablo Escobar. Most recently he’s been seen on television series Dope Thief and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, as well as on the big screen like Alex Garland’s wartime thriller Civil War. In this film, Moura plays his character Marcelo with a compelling low-key intensity that is all his own, cool as a cucumber, all the while keeping a side-eye out looking for any trouble coming his way. Also starring Gabriel Leone, who played Senna in the critically acclaimed biopic of the Brazilian Formula One racing legend. With a supporting cast that consists of Maria Fernanda Cândido, Alice Carvalho, Carlos Francisco and the illustrious Udo Kier, international film actor, genre king and Bacurau alum.
With its exuberant colors, warm radiant hues that blanket the screen but never over saturates, cinematographer Evgenia Alexandrova gives the feeling of watching memories of back home, but of a place you may have never actually been. With Kilho’s direction, the city is filmed as a beautiful ruin from a dream, where even decay seems to glow. Which blends well with the labyrinthine narratives, curling and winding around various characters, timelines and avenues that seem to stray off the storyline, but eventually connect in ways viewers may not see coming. The pervading dark politics, the hold of rampant police corruption and authoritarianism that was embedded into the system and culture of Brazil under a fascist regime, are explored here. Even some magic realism is introduced, in particular the urban legend of the Hairy Leg and how it relates to life there, at that time.
A beguiling beauty of a film, intriguing and dangerously inviting, with both complexity in storytelling yet simplicity in its love for a place and time capable of conjuring fear and affection. However you can, in a theater or at home, experience for yourself The Secret Agent.
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