The Secret Agent - 4 Nominations

 

Best Casting: Gabriel Domingues

Best International Feature Film: Brazil

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Emilie Lesclaux

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Wagner Moura

For a second year in a row, Brazil has a strong showing for the Oscars, with almost identical nominees (Best Pic, International Feature, and a lead acting role) with only the addition of the new category for the Casting award. Brazil of the 70s is certainly rich fodder for movie making. This time, Marcelo is returning to his hometown as anonymously as possible in kind of a witness protection program to see his young son who has been staying with his wife’s parents while he has been on the run. Simultaneously trying to keep his cover as he looks through official records to see what information he can get about his mother, while also hiding from those who want to do him harm thanks to a patent he holds to a game changing invention. His is a dangerous life but this doesn’t keep him from dreaming of a future with his son.

The Secret Agent unfolds just slowly enough to be intriguing and just fast enough to keep you engaged. From the opening scene, it’s clear that this is a dangerous place. Dangerous to drive, dangerous to live, dangerous to connect, dangerous to share anything real about oneself, and definitely very dangerous to have invented something that powerful people want. I think this is the likely International Feature winner (much like I’m Still Here last year) but unlikely to win the others.

I’m still getting my arms around the casting category, but this is surely a tribute to the lead actor and everyone in the supporting cast who surrounds him. I thought this film was outstanding and so worth watching. It’s another chapter in the brutality of an authoritarian regime, surely a worthwhile topic for the days we are living through now, eh?