"A casual disregard for human life contrasts with a colorful, hard-partyin' atmosphere of 1977 Carnaval in Brazil in The Secret Agent, director Kleber Mendonca Filho's momentous epic, a mercurial adventure in filmmaking that reminds us of how dangerous but important it can be to resist an unjust system. Secret Agent also urges us to be aware of the swath of corruption that settles in places high and low and to respect and embrace the bloodlines that flow through us."
"Wagner Moura hits all the right notes as wary-eyed Marcelo, a widower now designated an unwelcome stranger in his homeland since he mouthed off to a corrupt businessman with oodles of loot. Moura's modulated performance his best yet never announces that its being brilliant in all of the film's unnerving spaces yet it takes little nips at your heart as Marcelo seeks refuge in an apartment building in Recife (north-east Brazil) so he can be near his son who is living with his grandparents."
"He shares those apartment digs with a two-faced cat and a tightly wound small group of refugees leading double lives and trying to not attract the attention of on-the-take cops, government goons and violent entrepreneurs. That context might sound a false alarm that The Secret Agent is dour and depressing. It isn't, even though it will punch you in the gut every now and then."
The Secret Agent is set against 1977 Carnaval in Brazil and juxtaposes festive color with a casual disregard for human life. The film follows Marcelo, a wary widower and exile, who seeks refuge in an apartment building in Recife to stay near his son living with grandparents. Marcelo shares the building with a small group of refugees leading double lives, a two-faced cat, and the constant threat of corrupt cops, government goons, and violent entrepreneurs. The film shifts time periods, balances gravity with off-kilter humor and surreal chase sequences, and emphasizes resisting unjust systems while honoring bloodlines.
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