Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Writer: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Stars: Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone
Synopsis: In 1977, a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks.
There may come a point in the first act of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, celebrating its New York premiere at the 63rd New York Film Festival, where the viewer will question what is going on. It’s honestly quite the confounding experience. Going into this film knowing nothing might lead one to believe it will be 160 minutes of Marcelo (Wagner Moura) meandering through the streets of Recife. In many ways, that’s exactly what the film is. But with an undeniably cinematic verve, Mendonça Filho crafts one of the most flat-out exciting filmgoing experiences of the year. The Secret Agent is full of countless quirks throughout its runtime. But these distinct traits slowly reveal themselves to be integral features of the film. It’s indicative of the immaculately stylized and boldly confident film Mendonça Filho has pulled together. The multitides within The Secret Agent represent such exciting possibilities for everything that cinema can contain. This is a film wrought with tragedy and evil, yet at its core, one could argue that it presents countless reasons why life can be seen as beautiful and worth fighting for despite the existence of such forces trying to snuff out joy and beauty.
We first meet Marcelo as he’s pulling into a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Mendonça Filho drops a context card letting the viewer know the film takes place in Brazil, 1977, or as its also put, “a period of great mischief.” We come to fully grasp what the filmmaker means within the context of the story, but it’s also quite an apt description for a film so playfully constructed. Despite the immediately off-putting and tragic situation Marcelo finds himself in, there’s a freeform element immediately present from the opening scene of The Secret Agent. There’s a spontaneous quality to Mendonça Filho’s direction that keeps us, as viewers, consistently on our toes. We are never fully aware of the exact path Mendonça Filho is planning to take his audience down. This makes for an inherent excitement baked into the foundation of the film. Admittedly, there may be a fair amount of time necessary for the film to find its footing because of these stylistic sensibilities. But in retrospect, Mendonça Filho’s commitment to such varied tones and styles is both deeply commendable and wildly exciting. It perfectly paves the way for what The Secret Agent is hoping to achieve by the time its credits begin rolling.
As Marcelo makes his way towards the northern city of Recife, he can’t help but chuckle at the various catchphrases he notices on passing vehicles. His eye wanders while driving, and it’s here that the wondrous editing (from Matheus Farias and Eduardo Serrano) of The Secret Agent first begins to rear its head. There’s a kineticism to the edit of this film which feels as if it’s placing the viewer within Marcelo’s actively working thought process. As he sees a reminder of something from the past, it flashes back into the frame with an often startling jolt. Nightmare sequences take on a heavy weight to them. Moura is incredible in moments such as these, working in tandem with a post-production process which makes for a more enriching and three-dimensional character all around. His eyes can be read with such distinct clarity, whether they need to convey a haunted look or an adoring gaze. It’s one of the many reasons Moura will hopefully be in the awards conversation for Best Actor. But this editing, and Moura’s interplay with it, also allow for the other half of The Secret Agent to shine brightly. So much of this film is wrestling with the notion that evil not only exists, but isn’t worried about shying away from the light. Yet Mendonça Filho still captures such beauty in between the moments of tension and evil. Marcelo is retelling a story at one point, and the dynamic edit makes it feel as if he is actively recalling the proper order of events in real time. This proves the runway for a line reading so tenderly delivered by Carlos Francisco which perfectly sums up the balance Mendonça Filho keeps illustrating through all the script decisions he is making in this film: there’s an unflinching focus on the moments in life we must cherish.
Upon arriving in Recife, Marcelo is taken around his temporary lodging while being introduced to various neighbors. It’s such an extended sequence, and is only the first of many. Mendonça Filho clearly has no worries about runtime and the film is all the better for it. This embrace of slowing everything way down and allowing the period elements and these characters to speak for themselves is part of the beauty pouring off the screen. It creates a real sense of community within this apartment complex; in turn, this not only highlights the stakes of the film, but shines a light on the real-world implications of what a military dictatorship so cruelly wanted to remove from history. It makes each moment of character-building integral to the emotional core of The Secret Agent. The villainous forces of this film are all portrayed as disrespectful, disgusting, and unashamed of their depravities. Shapeshifting for the sake of appearing normal is clearly a posturing act. There is so much dehumanizing in this film at the hands of those benefitting from dictatorship. Mendonça Filho rarely shies away from the cruelties doled out. But by that same token, he also fills this film with an undeniable humanity amongst his cast of characters. It serves as a reminder to protect what we still have. Perhaps that’s what matters most.
It’s this sort of delicate tonal balance which displays a willingness to look evil in the eyes and live fully in spite of its existence. As Dona Sebastiana (a wonderful Tânia Maria) outright states in the film, “Life has bad things but also good things!” It’s a perfect distillation as to why Mendonça Filho spends so much of this film focusing on the minute human experiences which can become forgotten or overlooked when looking back through history. We tend to see history through the largest contextual scope. But it’s in the images and stories and lives that exist in between the lines of large moments in history that matter just as much. The Secret Agent implores its audience to recognize the essential nature of honoring and remembering parts of the past we may not even be aware of. History is constantly being written, and it’s important to not let it unfold in a way that removes the countless individual voices that filled a time before our own. And what’s so ridiculously impressive about The Secret Agent is simply how much movie there is to be found in it. Yet for all its cinematic vigor, shifting from drama to B-movie slasher to pulsing thriller with little warning, The Secret Agent never allows a voice or a character to fall to the wayside. Each one matters to Mendonça Filho, and it’s as touching as it is cinematically fulfilling.
The Secret Agent is celebrating its New York premiere at the 63rd New York Film Festival as part of the Main Slate section.
