A still from ‘The Secret Agent’
| Photo Credit: MUBI
The first trailer for The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s latest feature, has been released following its award-winning debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The Brazilian political thriller, led by Wagner Moura, took home Best Director and Best Actor for Moura, along with the Art House Cinema Award and the FIPRESCI Prize.
The film is set in Brazil in 1977 and follows Marcelo (Moura), a technology expert in his early 40s who is on the run. Hoping to find safety and reunite with his son, Marcelo arrives in Recife during carnival week. What he discovers instead is a city gripped by tension and violence, far from the refuge he was seeking.
Scored with an Ennio Morricone track from Salvatore Samperi’s 1968 drama Come Play With Me, the footage suggests a tense, elliptical portrait of paranoia, danger and fractured family ties rather than a conventional thriller.
Mendonça Filho, regarded as one of Brazil’s leading contemporary filmmakers, is known for work that blends politics, history and genre. His previous films include the internationally acclaimed Bacurau (co-directed with Juliano Dornelles) and the documentary Pictures of Ghosts, which explored the history of movie theaters in his hometown.
Following its Cannes success, The Secret Agent is slated to screen at major fall festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. With strong critical momentum, it is widely expected to be Brazil’s submission for the Best International Feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards.
Neon will release The Secret Agent in U.S. theaters on Nov. 26.
Published – August 31, 2025 01:13 pm IST
