Critics Consensus

A thematically rich and visually arresting political thriller, The Secret Agent blends grindhouse stylization with biting social commentary to weave a vividly dangerous yet darkly human tale.

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Ela Bittencourt

Frieze

May 6, 2026

The film's earlier scenes binding sensuality and archives, while seeming quirky, have a real psychological pay-off... The film conveys the sense that, while the vulnerability of archives lies in their fragmentation, their power is in being unfinished.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Feb 24, 2026

5/5

For all its showmanship, exquisite period details and flashy Tarantino-style denouement, Filho’s film never loses its profound emotional ache, or the central idea — that the departing dictatorship left behind an entire population in a state of trauma.

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Mark Kermode

Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)

Feb 24, 2026

The brilliant thing about it is, it is completely engrossing.

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Kathryn Reklis

The Christian Century

Oct 4, 2026

...[Kleber Mendonça Filho ] injects the everyday violence of a corrupt and repressive society with the tension and style of a spy thriller, with flashes of the bizarre and surreal.

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Beatrice Loayza

The New York Review of Books

Sep 2, 2026

Mendonça’s work at once memorializes endangered Brazilian social dynamics and mythologizes them, filtering them through the intuitive registers of style and genre.

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Nicolás Medina

Montevideo Portal / Latido Beat

Aug 17, 2026

8/10

The film is a solid, intelligent film that is aware of its place in the tradition of Latin American political cinema and, at the same time, open to engaging with the genre. [Full review in Spanish]

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Kleber Mendonça Filho

Director

Wagner Moura

Marcelo Alves

Tânia Maria

Dona Sebastiana

Gabriel Leone

Bobbi

Maria Fernanda Cândido

Elza

Hermila Guedes

Claudia

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Synopsis

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor in Cannes.

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Producer: Emilie Lesclaux, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Wagner Moura, Brent Travers
Screenwriter: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Distributor: NEON
Production Co: CinemaScópio Produções, Arte France Cinema, Black Rabbit Media, MK2 Films, Vitrine Filmes
Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language|Some Full Nudity|Strong Bloody Violence)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller, History
Original Language: Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 26, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 3, 2026
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.3M
Runtime: 2h 41m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Digital 2.39:1

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