The Secret Agent

Flicks with The Film Snob

The Secret Agent

Jan 05 2026 | 00:03:23

00:00 / 00:03:23

Show Notes

A man seeking refuge in a coastal city of 1977 Brazil doesn’t know that two men have been hired to kill him, in this brilliant portrait of life under dictatorship. The Secret Agent is the name of a new film by Brazilian writer and director Kleber Mendonça Filho. Right from the start with the title, we have ambiguity. It’s not a spy movie—no one is engaged in espionage. Rather, it’s presenting the experience that is prompted by the idea of a secret agent: always be on your guard, danger lurks around the corner, conceal who you are. In historical terms,…

Other Episodes

Episode 0

July 26, 2020 • 00:03:23

Sabotage

One of the gems among Alfred Hitchcock’s early British films, Sabotage tells of an enemy agent in 1930s England, and the tragic consequences of...

Episode 0

May 05, 2021 • 00:04:24

Shirley

A young couple stays at the house of author Shirley Jackson and her husband, getting drawn into their chaotic relationship, in a film that...

Episode 0

August 24, 2023 • 00:03:25

The Unholy Trinity of Gangster Movies

In 1931 and ’32, the gangster genre broke through in Hollywood with three great films: Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, and Scarface. The gangster...