Continuing a look at my favorite movie music scenes of 2025…

My next selection is quite different from yesterday’s Sinners extravaganza. This scene isn’t the centerpiece of its film. In fact, it’s the opening credits.

Writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent is a political thriller set in 1970s Brazil. It follows political dissident Armando Solimões as he hides from the military dictatorship and seeks a way out of the country with his young son.

The film opens with a tense set piece in which Armando is interrogated by police while filling his gas tank. The corpse of a gunned-down thief lies under a piece of cardboard in the distance, but the cops are more interested in a shakedown.

Armando then drives to the city of Recife, where he has arranged refuge, and the car radio plays today’s SOTD, Chicago’s ‘If You Leave Me Now.’ The credits roll over scenes of the countryside, other drivers, and Armando’s reactions. Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura brings a laid-back charisma to the role that instantly invests you in his character’s fate.

I fell in love with the movie right then and there, so charmed and unsettled by its mix of tones.

[Note: The version of this song in the movie is the original recording, but that’s already been on the blog, so here’s a live performance.]