Protégé

An excellent portrayal of an undercover cop working to bring an end to a huge drug network in Hong Kong.

The film gives three sides of the story and shows the viewer a glimpse into the world of the drug-lord, the undercover cop and the addict.

All three main characters (Andy Lau, David Wu and Zhang Jingchu) gives an excellent and flawless performance. Where does one draw the line between business and drug smuggling, crime prevention and aiding crime, addiction and family? Is David Wu's character the protégé or are the addicts the protégé? At the end of the day, drugs destroys everything. One could turn a blind eye, but everything comes round in a circle.

Ordinary development, good research on today's drug-dealing, satisfactory (only) acting, a just so-so plot plus a perfunctorily didactic story, nevertheless, I still recommend this as a light Sunday afternoon amuse-bouche.

We are living in a world of mixed, confusing values. What is right? What is wrong? Lin Quin is an extremely careful businessman. He has a clean family and clean life (he doesn't even smoke, not to mention drug). He is very clear-minded to the point of having a frozen heart without much feeling for the others. He knows, very rationally, all the tricks and danger of drug and drug-dealing. He knows, super-sensibly, the wants and behaviour of the drug consumers. Trafficking drug to him is only a means of accumulating wealth regardless whether it is harmful or evil. He even makes an analogy between cigarette and drug. According to the world system and world values, he is correct: as there is a demand, I supply. As the buyers (drug users) get what they want and I get what (the money) I want, we are both happy. Isn't that the world we are living in? Nick's remark at the opening and closing of the film somehow is a futile didactic statement. "For long, I didn't understand why people take drug.... actually it's all because of emptiness (loneliness). And, which is more horrible? Loneliness or drug? I really can't tell." No philosophy class but loneliness kills more, for sure, more destructive than drugs.

What touches my heart is the ending. Nick promises to continue his duty as a special agent (undercover). When loneliness comes, he also intends to take drug but at last his salvation is brought by "innocence" (personified by Jane's little daughter) who dumps the syringe for him. Only when we come to purity and innocence, goodness and kindness can we have a way out from evil.

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 best films I've seen in years. (The director, Derek Yee, wrote and directed the excellent ONE NIGHT IN MONGKOK)

Watching it was like going into a surreal alternate universe--part horror, part human drama, part cop story.

The plot description does not do it justice, as it sounds like a typical HK action drama, or at best a copycat of INFERNAL AFFAIRS, or TRAFFIC.

This harrowing film is complex and has its own vision. Addiction, despair and betrayal are at its core.

The cop-mole plot is only part of the story. The world of heroin is explored on several levels: poppy growers, "cookers", suppliers, an amazing sequence in Thailand in the heart of the "Golden Triangle", and --best of all-- a look inside the world of a young mother and heroin addict-- which is shot with such a dreamlike but gritty reality you are horrified yet entranced.

The cinematographer and production designer should be commended for creating such a fascinating universe for the actors to inhabit.

The actors all give strong performances, but it's Zhang Jing Chu who is mesmerizing and heartbreaking as Jane, who plays the heroin addict as if she were a "living ghost."

Boosting some of Hong Kong's film industry biggest with producer Peter Chan (Perhaps Love) and director Derek Yee (C'est La Vie and One Night in Mongkok), "Protégé" looks set to become this Hong Kong biggest film this Chinese New Year.

The Protégé here is Nick (Daniel Wu), trained to take over Jong's (Andy Lau) heroin trafficking business, but is in fact a police officer. His inner conflict is between the loyalty towards his 'teacher', and duty towards his job and justice. Things get more complicated when he falls in love with a heroin-addict (Zhang Jingchu), forced to detriment by her husband (Louis Koo).

The story of an undercover police would remind many of "Infernal Affairs", especially when both stars Andy Lau. The difference lies in its subtlety. While there are still police chase scenes and fights, the focus of the film is on the character development more than its actions.

Daniel has proved his acting abilities in One Night In Mongkok. Though he is playing the lead role in "Protégé", his character lacks of a very distinct quality to showcase his acting skills. This is so for Andy Lau's 'baddie' role as well, and you can't put across strongly how you should feel for him. Anita Yuen has very little screen time, perhaps due to the fact she was six months pregnant, and there could be more chemistry between her and Andy Lau.

The scene stealer is the refreshing China actress Zhang Jingchu who breathes an air of vulnerability and frenzy as a woman forced by circumstances. We should expect more from her as she moves on to a Hollywood in Rush Hour 3. Louis Kook, in stained teeth and tattered clothes, changes his image successfully playing her abusive husband.

Starting off slowly, the movie picks up after moving to the Golden Triangle, where audience are treated to the eye-opening sight of heroin plantations and produce.

"Protégé" may not be adrenalin pumping or mass audience entertainment, as director Derek Yee probably wanted to weave in a social message in a subtle and restrained manner. The last scene was enough for me to understand the story, though you wished he had pushed the movie forward a little more.

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