Mill Valley Film Festival 48 (Oct. 2-12, 2025)

[Chris Knipp]

WAGNER MOURA IN THE SECRET AGENT

THE SECRET AGENT (Kleber Mendonça Filho 2025)
This year we have another great film about life under Brazil's 1970's dictatorship, very different from Walter Salles' I'm Still Here, which won the 2025 three Oscars last year. Kleber Mendonça Filho casts a wider net, with comedy, rich social detail, and Hitchcockian suspense. For some this may be too complicated. For many though, it's a delight. This one is about a researcher on the run from the south to his native Recife because he has offended an evil government-friendly businessman who chooses to shut down his academic research . Sound familiar? It did to me. (This won multiple awards at Cannes this year.)