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.]
If you leave me now
You’ll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh, no, baby, please don’t go
[Verse 2]
And if you leave me now
You’ll take away the very heart of me
Ooh, no, baby, please don’t go
Ooh, girl, I just want you to stay
[Chorus]
A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today
[Chorus]
A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today
[Verse 1]
If you leave me now
You’ll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh, no, baby, please don’t go
[Outro]
Ooh, girl, I just got to have you by my side
Ooh, no, baby, please don’t go
Ooh, mama, I just got to have your lovin’ yeah
Meet Me In Montauk 
Agreed, this was a great opening scene to a very good movie.
need to see this film at some point. Sounds like a great opening
Couldn’t agree more that the opening of this film was so powerful and set the stage for all that comes after. And that Wagner Moura should be a superstar in every country, not just his native Brazil.