Protégé | |
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Protégé Theatrical Poster
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Traditional | 門徒 |
Simplified | 门徒 |
Mandarin | Mén Tú |
Cantonese | Mun4 Tou4 |
Directed by | Derek Yee |
Produced by | Peter Chan |
Written by | Derek Yee |
Starring |
Andy Lau Daniel Wu Louis Koo Zhang Jingchu Anita Yuen |
Music by | Peter Kam |
Cinematography | Venus Keung Chan Wai-lin |
Edited by | Kong Chi-leung |
Distributed by |
Hong Kong: Gala Film Distribution Singapore: Golden Village Pictures Mediacorp Raintree Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
Country | Hong Kong Singapore |
Language | Cantonese |
Box office | HK26,280,000 |
Protégé is a 2007 Hong Kong-Singaporean co-produced crime drama film written and directed by Derek Yee, starring Andy Lau, Daniel Wu, Louis Koo, Zhang Jingchu and Anita Yuen.
Undercover officer Nick had spent the last seven years penetrating into the core of a drug ring, working his way up from a street dealer post to the managerial position handling cargo deliveries for Kwan – the biggest player in the local heroin market. When the ailing Kwan makes Nick his protégé, Nick cannot help but sway before money and power and starts to perform his role like a real drug trafficker. This, together with his affair with heroin-addict Jane, causes Nick to become more and more confused about his true identity, and eventually leads to a disastrous end.
The film begins with a scene in a dark isolated rundown apartment building, showing a heroin addict living poorly with her young daughter. The scene then forwards to the perspective of Officer Nick who is suffering from loneliness just after completing an undercover assignment. He recalls the entire story of what happened and the events to lead to his emptiness.
Based on materials provided by retired undercover agents of the police force, Protégé attempts to realistically tell the story of undercover agents in the clandestine drug world, who struggle to constantly walk on the fine line between justice and crime, but who will never see the day of serving in the regular police force.
The film received generally positive reviews. Perry Lam, for example, wrote in Muse magazine, 'The movie is powerful precisely because it doesn't preach, and therefore spares us all the usual opinions, standard platitudes and naive assumptions about drug dealing and addiction.'
Region 1 DVD (US & Canada)
On 24 February 2009 Dragon Dynasty, released "Protégé" on Region 1 DVD: