During Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1977, tech researcher Marcelo (Wagner Moura) evades the target on his back by taking refuge in a vibrant city.
Set in director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian hometown of Recife, the slyly titled The Secret Agent is a major work composed in a minor key. It follows an ordinary father and widower forced into extraordinary circumstances, a tale it metes out to its audience with caution, as though trading in state secrets. The flow of information is pivotal: the premise fades into view no sooner than an hour into the movie’s 161-minute runtime, but it unfolds in inviting fashion, guided by Wagner Moura’s withheld but emotionally vivid…