You can almost smell the sweat in “The Secret Agent,” a stylish, slow burn thriller about radicals and mercenaries in 1977 Brazil. Filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho begins his film with the note that it ...

Wagner Moura is also nominated for best actor; if the movie wins best international film, it will mark the first time in nearly 40 years a country has gone back to back in that category.

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” opens with a curious warning. “Our story is set in the Brazil of 1977,” white text reads as a yellow Volkswagen Beetle pulls into a gas ...

Wagner Moura takes cover in this knockout from the filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho that is largely set in 1977 during Brazil’s military dictatorship. By Manohla Dargis When you purchase a ticket for ...

The protagonist of “The Secret Agent” isn’t a secret agent; he only lives like one. The reason for his clandestine maneuvering is apparent from the film’s first scene, when he pulls into a gas station ...