Protégé (2007)

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

By watching how life of people surrounding heroin, this movie will touch you. The story is that up close, and no one has succeeded in bringing this topic in such a surreal way to the big screen as the Protégé.Director Derek Yee brings no bares held tale of undercover cop, Hong Kong drug lord, and the lives of people affected by the use of heroin in a tight plot and excellent script.The framing of the visuals, the portrayal of the people of this level can only be accomplished by an excellent movie, and this movie takes it to the next level.If you've never seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to see it. It brings a new level of story telling to the cops vs drug lord genre.

I saw this last month at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. The title of this film I believe is Munto not Moon To as listed here on IMDb and this Munto film is not to be confused with the Japanese animee movies of the same name. This is a gangster thriller set in Hong Kong. Nick (Daniel Wu) has spent his entire police career infiltrating a major drug organization led by Kwan (Andy Lau). Nick went straight from the police academy to undercover work and has never worn a uniform or even been inside a police station. For the past seven years he has worked his way up drug lord Kwan's organization that he is in a position to be Kwan's heir to his drug empire. Kwan, in fact, has selected Nick as his heir apparent because he is dying from the long-term results of diabetes. In the meantime Nick has been living in an inner city apartment where his next door neighbor Fan (Zhang Jingchu) is a pretty single mother whose low level drug dealing, heroin addicted husband (Louis Koo) drifts in and out of her and her daughter's life when he isn't in jail to pimp her out. Fan has also become a heroin addict. Nick develops a relationship with Fan and acts as a surrogate father to her little daughter. Nick has also become very close to Kwan. Thius is a good story from writer/director Derek Yee. Within the story line, it takes us to Burma and Thailand and complete with charts and graphs, almost becomes an educational anti-drug documentary on the workings of the Asian heroin trade within the Golden Triangle. Excellent cinematography by Keung Kwok-man and editing by Kwong Chi-Leung. Good production design by Yee Chung-man with Academy Award nominated costume designer/art director Chung Man Yee on board as a consultant. Fast-paced original music score by Peter Kam. This is a good movie and I would give it a 8.0 out of 10 and recommend it.

One of the highly anticipated films of the year, Derek Yee's 'Protege' brings together Andy Lau and Daniel Wu in a tale centred around the world of drug trafficking in Asia.Nick (Daniel Wu) is a young and ambitious cop who has been working undercover in a drug ring headed by diabetic crime-lord Lai (Andy Lau). During a long course of being undercover, Nick has been able to gain the trust and support of Lai by doing may things against his duty as a policeman - and he is chosen to be his 'protege'. During this he meets Jane (Zhang Jingchu), a young mother who has become an addict due to her husbands' (Louis Koo) actions. While expressing sympathy for Jane's daughter, Jane ends up falling for Nick - but he cannot see past the point that his actions are responsible for people like her becoming addicts. Thus Nick feels the need to reform and do his bit for society.The film itself resembles Steven Soderbergh's award-winning 'Traffic', the world of drug trafficking is shown in different perspectives. Derek Yee uses detailed character work, exploratory cinematography and visually impeccable locations. Like his previous film 'One Nite In Mongkok' Yee uses the camera and characters to bring the locations to life - highlight being scenes shot at the Golden Triangle - an area of Hong Kong where a lot of the drug-trafficking and production takes place.Daniel Wu seems to improve with every film he does, this time he plays a rather mixed up man that is guilt ridden by his actions.. where as Andy Lau plays a negative character with ease, looking at the drug trade as pure business: supply and demand. Zhang Jingshu steals the show from everyone as a junkie mother living in a run-down apartment. For instance, the opening shots where she's shown shooting up - no dialogue yet physically expressing her character with such brilliance (her daughter coming into-the shot just touches so deep, hard to not be compelled). Louis Koo proves to be above average as a very unlikeable addict and manages not to overact at times. Support cast such as Anita Yuen and Mei Tan-Hei are underused and represented as one-dimensional characters. The script is rather tightly wove, that is until the end where it just follows a conventional ending and stating that 'Drugs are bad', which does make the effort seem rushed. But amazing direction, notable performances and a rather interesting point makes 'Protege' a one-of-a-kind Hong Kong movie. There are some action sequences which carry tension,and the chemistry between the main cast carries off as really convincing. This is the kind of movie that a lot of film buffs would love to see: its smart, gritty, intense and shocking. One of the best Hong Kong movies of the year, if not one of the best movies of the year.Highly recommended.

With a good, solid story, a movie doesn't need an "Infernal affair" type of convoluted script to succeed. "Protégé" is a perfect example. There are two strong story lines, none of them particularly novel, converging on drug-busting undercover cop Nick (Daniel Wu). After seven years' hard and dangerous work, he is close to winning full confidence of heroin kingpin Kwan (Andy Lau), ready for the big kill. At about the same time, he starts to develop a delicate relationship with pretty single mother Jane (Zhang Jingchu), starting out as his innocent good-natured intention to help her and her little daughter. And three cheers to the movie makers for sparing us yet another trip into the realm of undercover-syndrome complex. Thank you very much - there's been more than enough. Nick is a good guy, period.Some say that the true protagonist in this movie is heroin, and that is not far from the truth. Very apparently, a lot of effort has been put into researching the subject. Close-up, we see production of the stuff in the "kitchen" (i.e. the secret factory) with such detail that it look like a chemistry lesson we had in high school. We are then given some rather disturbing insight into how Kwan's organization operates, by absolute compartmentalization for maximum security – the "need-to-know" rule is applied to the utmost. Finally, on the global scale, we are shown the massive poppy fields in the Golden Triangle, and at the same time brought to understand that heroin is really a "sunset industry", giving way to youth-oriented drugs. There are also shrewd remarks such as the UN's reports on drug dealing becoming drug dealers' "marketing guide".But this is not a clinical documentary. It's an intensely human story. To carry it, we need some good acting, and we have it.Wu, as mentioned, plays a simple good guy which is not a huge challenge. He delivers. Andy Lau fans should enjoy his role here, which is quite unlike anything he had before. Here is an interesting portrayal of an evil criminal into an almost sympathy-earning character – a devoted family man who is also a continually suffering invalid. The most interesting bit of psychology is his self-absolving logics, putting the blame on the end-users with such vehement intensity that the self-serving mentality is only too clear. Kwan (and all of the few in his closest confidants, for that matter) is squeaky clean when it comes to drug usage. To him, this is only a business of supply and demand. If some junkie out there wants the stuff, someone is going to sell it to them and get rich, so it may as well be Kwan himself. The movie comes dangerously to letting such a criminal getting away easily with such atrocity, had it not been for another character, Jane.Jane is just such a junkie, and through Zhang's heart-wrenching portrayal, the audience see what drug addiction really is and the monstrosity of the people behind it. That is truly an infernal affair. Those who have seen Zhang in "Seven swords" know how good she is in portraying a character in an neurotic state of mind (in that movie it was shock from nearly being killed by a sword swinging bandit). But those who have also seen the little-known movie "Huayao bride in Shangrila" know further that she is an extremely versatile actress, as she plays there a witty, playful, mischievous young bride that delights at every turn. Zhang Jingchu is one Mainland actress to keep an eye open for.It's quite true that this movie is formulaic and predictable, but it works, thanks to Yee Tung-shing's capable direction. But even a director as traditional as Yee cannot avoid putting in one or two grotesque "shock" scenes (think Johnny To's "Election" series). Here, we have humour as black as you want with a guy's hand not chopped off by a knife, but smashed off by repeated blows from a hammer. Owner of said hand is one of the best character actors in town Liu Kai-chi, whose "Fu Bo" is still among the top local indies. While on such matters, I must compliment Louis Koo Tin-lok on his delightful portrayal of a character that is beneath contempt, Jane's junkie husband.