ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

brazilian films

Movie of the Week 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 3, 2026: THE BLUE TRAIL

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The film takes place in a near-future Brazil in which senior citizens are removed from their jobs and homes and relocated to the mysterious “colony” when they reach a certain age, to make more opportunities and resources available for younger people. Older folks are promised the chance to rest and be taken care of … but no one ever seems to see them again once they’ve been moved. Tereza (Weinberg), at 77, is self-sufficient and still working every day at her factory job when she learns that her number is up, and she’ll be colony-bound in just a few days. The deadline spurs her to take action, using her savings in pursuit of checking one item off of her very modest bucket list: She’d like to fly in an airplane.

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Reviews 

THE BLUE TRAIL – Review by Leslie Combemale

Leslie Combemale , , , , , ,

There’s a strong streak of magical realism that infuses the story of a 77 year old woman yearning to experience freedom and joy as she continues to age. Unfortunately, in this dystopian future, the Brazilian government sends all citizens to an elders colony, where, ominously, they’re never heard from again. Tereza (Denise Weinberg) is having none of that. She tries to sow her wildest remaining oats in the week she has left before being “sent away”, but discovers she has to have her daughter’s permission for even taking a flight with her own money. Thus ensues a personal odyssey to discover her next chapter, ageist government be damned.

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Reviews 

THE BLUE TRAIL – Review by Monique Jones

Monique Jones , , , , , ,

The Blue Trail has a lot of high points, most notably how it treats concepts like aging. Just because you have reached “elderly” status doesn’t mean life stops. In the film, 77 year old Tereza (Denise Weinberg) comes into her own, avoiding state sanctioned retirement and relocation to an elder ‘colony’ and instead learning more about herself and what she wants out of the rest of her life.

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Uncategorized 

THE BLUE TRAIL – Review by Cate Marquis

Cate Marquis , , , , , ,

The Blue Trail is a future-fantasy film that starts grim but then takes an unexpected turn. In a near future, dystopian Brazil, an authoritarian government flies planes overhead proclaiming that, for the good of families and the economy, all people reaching mandatory retirement age will lose their jobs and be transported to a retiree colony, where “they can relax” and families do not have to take care of them. It is all phrased as if it is being done out of respect and kindness, but 77-year-old Tereza (Denise Weinberg) isn’t buying that happy talk – nor are many others around her.

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Reviews 

THE SECRET AGENT – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , ,

Set in 1977 during the height of Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship, Kleber Mendonca Filho’s The Secret Agent is a satirical political thriller, starring Wagner Moura as Marcelo (whose real name is Armando), who returns to his hometown of Recife to reunite with his young son after clashing with a corrupt federal official in Sao Paolo. Mendonca Filho co-wrote the sociopolitical screenplay with Moura’s input, adapting elements from real 1980s diplomatic archives.

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Festivals Reviews 

THE SECRET AGENT (O Agente Secreto, NYFF 2025) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , ,

A complex dramatization of tragic history comes to vivid life in Brazilian writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto). Set in 1977 Brazil, academic leftist and technology expert Armando retreats to his home town of Recife to reunite with his son, hoping also to elude violent retaliation perpetrated under General Ernesto Geisel’s military dictatorship, a rule characterized by rampant corruption and indifference to human life.

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Festivals Reviews 

THE SECRET AGENT (Cannes FF 2025) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , ,

A complex dramatization of tragic history comes to vivid life in Brazilian writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent (“O Agente Secreto). Set in 1977 Brazil, academic leftist and technology expert Marcelo retreats to his home town of Recife, hoping to elude violent retaliation in the military dictatorship rampant with corruption and indifferent to human life. Using a pseudonym in an attempt at concealment, Marcelo opposed a government minister ready to exploit and monetize scientific researchers’ discoveries while also disbanding the university department. For his ethical stand, Marcelo earns candidacy for targeted elimination.

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Reviews 

I’M STILL HERE – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , , ,

Perhaps counterintuitively, at times we better grasp and more profoundly feel the depth of a massive tragedy through the horrific experiences of one specific individual or family than through a mountain of statistics. Thus, while the 1964 to 1985 Brazilian military dictatorship’s appalling torture and murder of over 20,000 people over 21 years is a staggering statistic, the impact on citizens becomes most intensely, palpably real in director Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, focused on one family’s experiences.

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Reviews 

I’M STILL HERE – Review by Liz Braun

Liz Braun , , , , , , , ,

Walter Salles’ new film, I’m Still Here, is centered on one family during the military dictatorship of the 1970s in Brazil. The film is based on the true story of the disappearance of former congressman Rubens Paiva and the fate of his family thereafter; it is an unbelievably moving and timely picture, considering the current global shift to the right and the endless sabre-rattling from president-elect Donald Trump and his main henchboy. Salles captures the fate of his country during 20 years of military dictatorship (and its aftermath) in this tale of one family. And it’s a family he happened to have known as an adolescent. The filmmaker has talked about the absolute joy of spending time at the Paiva’s house when he was a boy of 13, and how the house was full of music and conversation and life.

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Festivals Reviews 

TRANSAMAZONIA (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

Margaret Barton-Fumo , , , , , , , , ,

Set deep within the Brazilian rainforest where lush vegetation runs into endless dirt roads, Pia Marais’ fourth feature Transamazonia is a measured portrayal of a conflicted landscape, produced in collaboration with the Assurini people of the Trocará Indigenous Territory. The film focuses on two Westerners, the evangelist Lawrence Byrne and his teenage daughter, the sole survivor of a plane crash nine years prior. Byrne is capitalizing on his daughter’s supposedly miraculous survival, promoting her as a faith healer for the local population.

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