On some level, it was surprising that the Golden Globe award for best actor went to Brazilian Wagner Moura for his starring role in The Secret Agent. And Moura’s work in the film perfectly mirrors what gives The Secret Agent its secret power, a power that expands the more you think about it after the screening. The Secret Agent poses a sly and knowing question: When is a spy movie not a spy movie — or not only a spy movie? It is not for nothing that The Secret Agent has earned its place in a wealth of Top Ten lists in the 2025 film crop (including this humble scribe’s). The Secret Agent is currently screening at SBIFF’s Riviera Theatre.