The Secret Agent opens in U.S. theaters Nov 26 after Cannes prizes

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller The Secret Agent, starring Wagner Moura, will open in U.S. theaters on November 26 after a high-profile festival run that included a Cannes premiere where the film earned top prizes. The film, set in 1977 Recife, follows Marcelo, a technology expert and political refugee who arrives during Carnival hoping to reunite with his son only to find the city is not the sanctuary he expected.

The Secret Agent won Best Director for Mendonça Filho and Best Actor for Moura at Cannes, and also picked up critics’ prizes that helped make it one of the festival’s most honored films. The Palme d’Or ultimately went to another title, a reality the film’s distributors acknowledged even as they and industry observers hailed The Secret Agent as a major awards contender. The movie will play fall festivals, including Telluride, Toronto and the New York Film Festival, before opening in a limited domestic release from Neon.

The teaser trailer, released this week, sets a tense tone with a brief interrogation scene in which Moura’s character snarls, For this man, I would kill him with a hammer. The clip is underscored by an Ennio Morricone cue...