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‘The Secret Agent’ Review: Wagner Moura Is Marked for Death in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Terrific ’70s Thriller
The cinematically dazzling period drama reveals a surprising underground support network operating during the period of Brazil’s military dictatorship.
Carnaval provides a convenient cover story for nearly 100 deaths and disappearances in “ The Secret Agent,” Kleber Mendonça Filho ’s robust sense-memory immersion into the sights, sounds and suffocating climate — both political and meteorological — the Brazilian director associates with 1977 Recife. The 56-year-old director was just 8 years old when the film takes place — roughly the same age as Fernando, the son of his main character, a man of multiple identities played by “Narcos” star Wagner Moura — and it seems safe to assume that the boy’s all-consuming desire to see “Tubarão” (the Portuguese title for “Jaws”) was inspired by the filmmaker’s own experience. If it weren’t for the title, we might not realize we’re watching a suspense movie, and even then, that’s not really the vibe Mendonça is going for — despite stylistic choices that echo John Carpenter (Panavision lenses), Brian De Palma (split screen) and Martin Scorsese (pop-music needle drops).
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