Speaker 1: Hey that folks.
Speaker 2: We continue now with Oscar movie number eight, The Secret Agent.
Speaker 1: This one was a surprise for us.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, first of all, I did not know anything
Speaker 3: about it, and I wasn't sure what language it was in.
Speaker 3: So look, I don't mind a subtitled movie because I
Speaker 3: actually feel like I get to read a book and
Speaker 3: watch a movie all at once, and after a few minutes,
Speaker 3: I forget I'm seeing subtitles, and it's so interesting. Even
Speaker 3: when you're watching a movie in another language, you can
Speaker 3: still tell when the acting is amazing, and that was
Speaker 3: the case with this film.
Speaker 2: This Oscar nominated film. Yes, The Secret Agent has four
Speaker 2: nominations among them other than Best Picture, Best Actor, Best
Speaker 2: International Feature, and Best Casting. Now, the leading the this
Speaker 2: one is Wagner Mora. He's your main character, and he
Speaker 2: is the one who really got awards season off with
Speaker 2: a bang, I guess because he pulled off what was
Speaker 2: considered an upset.
Speaker 3: He won.
Speaker 2: One of the first big acting awards of the season
Speaker 2: was that the Golden I think it was.
Speaker 3: The Golden Globes, and I think everyone was looking at
Speaker 3: Timothy Chalomet or Leonardo DiCaprio or Michael B.
Speaker 4: Jordan and all of a sudden, Wagner Mora wins.
Speaker 3: Yes, that actually put the secret agent on the map,
Speaker 3: at least for me, because it was the first time
Speaker 3: I had even heard of this movie.
Speaker 2: I think on the map for a lot of people.
Speaker 2: This was not a movie that was considered a big
Speaker 2: box office movie, only made eighteen million at the box office,
Speaker 2: but it is quite frankly, and we should probably say Robes,
Speaker 2: the beginning of this one had us more intrigued than
Speaker 2: any movie we saw.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is true. So this here's the synopsis of
Speaker 3: the movie. In nineteen seventy seven, a technology expert flees
Speaker 3: from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown town
Speaker 3: of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that
Speaker 3: the city is far from being the ref huge he seeks.
Speaker 4: But you're right that opening.
Speaker 3: Scene, the yellow Volkswagen Beetle driving down a seemingly deserted
Speaker 3: desert road in the middle of Mexico, and there's just
Speaker 3: this dead body and it just starts out unexpectedly and
Speaker 3: very mysteriously.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't know what to expect. Again, expectations are
Speaker 2: a lot of a part of these movies and what
Speaker 2: you get out of them.
Speaker 1: But robes.
Speaker 2: At the very beginning we said, oh my goodness, we
Speaker 2: got a good one here. We didn't know what we
Speaker 2: were expecting because the runtime is so damn long that
Speaker 2: we went into it with kind of a bad attitude.
Speaker 3: Yeah, two hours and forty one minutes tied for the
Speaker 3: longest movie of the ten here nominated for Best Picture,
Speaker 3: and so yeah, we were kind of like gearing ourselves
Speaker 3: up for it because thinking about it, a two hour
Speaker 3: and forty one minute movie that's in Portuguese nice, sounds
Speaker 3: like a party. No, we were concerned, but actually, yes,
Speaker 3: that opening scene was gripping and all of a sudden
Speaker 3: you wanted to know what is going on. And the
Speaker 3: cool thing I will say about this movie is it
Speaker 3: doesn't let you in. You are still unsure why the
Speaker 3: main character is heading to Resifa. You are trying to
Speaker 3: figure out why there are dead bodies everywhere. It's just
Speaker 3: and he has this mysterious past.
Speaker 4: You don't know what. You know he's fleeing from something,
Speaker 4: but you don't know what. And it takes a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you don't know he's the good guy or
Speaker 2: the bad guy. We don't be rooting for him, or
Speaker 2: should I be concerned about him. It was an interesting
Speaker 2: movie that Robes has a damn near perfect critic rating
Speaker 2: on ron Tomatoes.
Speaker 4: It certainly does.
Speaker 3: Yes, the critics and the audience loved it, but the
Speaker 3: critics more ninety eight percent for the critics eighty three
Speaker 3: percent from the audience. And look, I do think it
Speaker 3: may have something to do with the fact that it
Speaker 3: was in Portuguese, that it was two hours and forty
Speaker 3: one minutes, and that it was.
Speaker 4: A long and winding row.
Speaker 3: And to that point, we'll have to come clean about
Speaker 3: how long and winding our road was.
Speaker 4: Watching this kind of epic storytelling.
Speaker 2: It took us a while. I can't remember it took
Speaker 2: us four days. Wait, it took us longer on train
Speaker 2: dreams and this one, this was the.
Speaker 4: Four day one.
Speaker 3: Because the funny thing was, I remember it was so
Speaker 3: interesting because you kept saying this is so good, this
Speaker 3: is so good, and then I'd look at you and
Speaker 3: you'd be asleep, and I would have woken up from
Speaker 3: taking a nap as well, and then we'd started again
Speaker 3: and we'd be like, Okay, this is really good, and
Speaker 3: then we'd just start falling asleep.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: If maybe when you're reading subtitles and you're later at night.
Speaker 4: You had a long day, and we did have lots.
Speaker 3: Of long days this week us almost like you know
Speaker 3: when you go to read a book before you go
Speaker 3: to bed and you just fall asleep.
Speaker 4: But that's kind of what kept happening. So I don't
Speaker 4: even want to blame the movie.
Speaker 3: It might have been the subtitles, It was the time
Speaker 3: of day and the week we had. But every time
Speaker 3: I remember, you kept saying, this is just so good,
Speaker 3: and then you'd be a sleep later.
Speaker 2: A ringing endorsement of the movie is that it made
Speaker 2: us co night night. Apparently three or four nights it
Speaker 2: did in a row.
Speaker 1: What how do you? What do you do? How do
Speaker 1: you describe?
Speaker 2: I'm not sure when you talk about a movie that
Speaker 2: you find so interesting, so good, so well acted, so
Speaker 2: well shot, that you respect as a piece of art,
Speaker 2: but then you go, yeah, I didn't have a good
Speaker 2: movie experience. Should you enjoy a great movie? Or enjoy
Speaker 2: is the wrong way to look at it or the
Speaker 2: wrong way to say it? Should just not appreciate?
Speaker 3: Is that? What? Well?
Speaker 4: I do think a lot.
Speaker 3: I think when it comes to Best Picture nominees, I
Speaker 3: think you probably should go into watching each one of
Speaker 3: these with that level of expectation that I'm here to
Speaker 3: appreciate this piece of art.
Speaker 4: It might not be what I.
Speaker 3: Would typically watch in terms of we like horror, we
Speaker 3: like comedy, so none of these really fit those exact genres.
Speaker 3: But if you can go into it with the idea,
Speaker 3: I'm going to appreciate an art form, and I'm maybe
Speaker 3: going to learn something, feel something, have something evoked in
Speaker 3: me that I wouldn't have otherwise just going about my
Speaker 3: day or going to the typical kinds of movie and
Speaker 3: entertainment I seek out.
Speaker 2: I think maybe I am a simpleton when it comes
Speaker 2: to movies. I've said it for a long time. I
Speaker 2: think you're to some degree the same way. We just
Speaker 2: deal with so much day in day out that when
Speaker 2: it's time where you have the option a choice to
Speaker 2: be entertained. I want entertainment. I don't want heavy, I
Speaker 2: don't want weighty. I don't want to think, I don't
Speaker 2: want to feel. I don't what do you call them?
Speaker 2: The show the Love Island things, that's.
Speaker 1: My palate cleansing, plate cleansers.
Speaker 4: Yes, so no, but you and I have talked about this.
Speaker 4: It's one of the things we connected on.
Speaker 3: And I think perhaps it is because of the business
Speaker 3: we live in. But everyone thinks it's shocking because you
Speaker 3: would imagine journalists would like documentaries and to be what
Speaker 3: you know, and we do watch a lot of news.
Speaker 3: But when I'm actually sitting down not watching news, the
Speaker 3: last thing I want to do is watch a documentary
Speaker 3: or some long epic, tragic story and look up to
Speaker 3: each their own. But I want to escape. I want
Speaker 3: to escape, I want to laugh, I want to lighten
Speaker 3: things up. So, yes, this is this was a decision
Speaker 3: for us to watch these movies. And I do think
Speaker 3: it's helpful looking at it, like I'm exposing myself to
Speaker 3: something I wouldn't have and this is the best of
Speaker 3: the best.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is a year, right, babe. That is useful.
Speaker 1: There is useful.
Speaker 2: I just when it's time to watch a movie, it
Speaker 2: is time to be entertained. It is time to be entertained.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and you know the thing that made me
Speaker 2: interested in this was when he won the Golden Globe.
Speaker 2: He some guy never heard of, beat out all these
Speaker 2: guys I have heard of and watched all their movies. Like, oh,
Speaker 2: then I need to sit up and pay attention to
Speaker 2: whatever this is and that was the first thing.
Speaker 1: They got me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And when we watched it, there was some very
Speaker 3: memory scenes, Like I love that it was set in
Speaker 3: the year nineteen seventy seven, the year of your birth,
Speaker 3: but also the year of Jaws, and they had that
Speaker 3: play predominantly as a through line in this movie.
Speaker 4: You remember when they had the was it the tiger.
Speaker 3: Shark that found the murder the murder victim's leg and
Speaker 3: they had the kid who was obsessed with Jaws like
Speaker 3: you just had some There was some kind of grotesque
Speaker 3: which is in up our Alley, some grotesque, dark comedic moments.
Speaker 3: And I just I liked some of the cultural references
Speaker 3: on Chicago song if You Leave Me Now. I would
Speaker 3: never have thought that song would be playing predominantly in
Speaker 3: the movie. There were just some cool nostalgic parts about
Speaker 3: this movie that I appreciated. Even though it was in
Speaker 3: another language, it still felt I still felt connected to it.
Speaker 2: You appreciated it. I did feel connected to it. But
Speaker 2: would you tell somebody to watch it or skip it?
Speaker 1: What was that long?
Speaker 2: You just referenced as we continue here talking about the
Speaker 2: secret agent?
Speaker 1: But what was it? You just made a reference that didn't.
Speaker 3: Because it's white kind of if you leave me now
Speaker 3: by Chicago, If you leave me now you take away
Speaker 3: the greatest.
Speaker 4: All of me.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was the band, not the movie, not the show.
Speaker 4: I got so off there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chicago the band, not the show. Yeah, okay, there
Speaker 1: was a play called Chicago a musical.
Speaker 4: Right right, But I wasn't referencing that.
Speaker 1: I got confused.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know wish way we're going
Speaker 2: in white culture. Okay, but the Secret Agent two hours
Speaker 2: of forty one minutes, I would definitely he's worth watching.
Speaker 2: He's very cool. He's a cool character throughout this movie.
Speaker 2: There was something about his I'm not familiar with him,
Speaker 2: so I liked his style. I just like how he
Speaker 2: came across throughout this whole movie that was a cool
Speaker 2: confidence but of vulnerability the whole time. It seemed like
Speaker 2: he knew what he was doing with at the same time,
Speaker 2: he had no clue. It was just I liked him. Whoever,
Speaker 2: there's more a guy is If they announced his name
Speaker 2: as best actor, I would go, Okay, I'm cool with that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I would also say to watch it. I
Speaker 3: thought this movie had some really cool, stylized elements to it,
Speaker 3: a kind of what's happening next, a mysterious element to it,
Speaker 3: and then you actually had some There was love. There
Speaker 3: was love stories you found out about his past and
Speaker 3: his son, and you see this beautiful relationship between.
Speaker 1: Father and son that was the centerpiece.
Speaker 3: Yes, and so there's a real heart to this movie.
Speaker 3: And there's also this fun mystery around it. So I
Speaker 3: just think, also, it feels I felt, I felt like
Speaker 3: I experienced something that I that thought was beautiful and
Speaker 3: it was cool to see another culture. I felt immersed
Speaker 3: in this Brazilian culture. It just it was an experience
Speaker 3: that I valued. So I would absolutely say watch it.
Speaker 2: You a cultural experiences and experience and his performance are
Speaker 2: worth watching. So true, those two things are worth watching
Speaker 2: in this movie. It is it's a lift, it's an
Speaker 2: effort to watch the movie. However, this isn't just a
Speaker 2: one one bag of popcorn movie.
Speaker 4: And the funny thing is, yes, that's true.
Speaker 3: And the funny thing is we're saying this and it
Speaker 3: took us four days to watch it, and so that's
Speaker 3: actually I feel like that tells you something. Maybe we're
Speaker 3: blaming ourselves rather than the movie for not being able
Speaker 3: to stay up. But we a lot of times would
Speaker 3: just say ef it and move on and say we
Speaker 3: saw enough of it. We kept going back to it.
Speaker 3: We kept the next day saying, wait, let's pick up
Speaker 3: where we left off. I really want to see where
Speaker 3: this is going. So that actually tells you the fact
Speaker 3: that we were willing for a four days in a
Speaker 3: row to keep watching it because we actually wanted to
Speaker 3: see more and see what happened.
Speaker 4: I think that's a pretty bringing endorsement for people who
Speaker 4: fell it.
Speaker 2: Yes, chick that went out, this was number eight. We're
Speaker 2: getting through these. A cliff notes on The next one
Speaker 2: will be for a movie that's the short one on
Speaker 2: the list, but it took us a long time to
Speaker 2: get through it as well Trained Dreams. You can look
Speaker 2: for that. It'll be the next one in the fee
Speaker 2: folks always appreciate you hanging talk soon.