Apprentice

Name: Apprentice
Genre: Drama
Released: March 3, 2017
Duration: 115 min
Rating: 77

2017

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Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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Apprentice (US)

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Movie Details & Credits

Film Movement | Release Date: March 3, 2017 | Not Rated

Summary: When ambitious young correctional officer Aiman is transferred to the country's highest-security prison, he catches the attention of the seasoned chief executioner Rahim. Aiman's desire to become the hangman's apprentice is not only professional but born of an unspeakable urge to reconnect with a past that haunts him. [Film Movement]

Director: Junfeng Boo

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 115 min

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Critic Reviews

Boyd van Hoeij

Feb 28, 2017

One of Apprentice’s strongest selling points is how, in a very compact yet pleasingly dense way, it takes viewers into both the world of the executioners and the executed criminals’ family members who remain behind, two often almost ignored categories in films touching on capital punishment. Read full review

Lisa Nesselson

Feb 28, 2017

Tightly focused and ambitious in its multiple themes, the tale touches on how the death penalty radiates out to affect the living. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

Feb 27, 2017

Writer-director Boo Junfeng casually reinvigorates the prison drama, boiling its elements down to their primal essence. Read full review

Nick Schager

Mar 2, 2017

In a finale rife with twisted feelings of resentment, fury, and self-loathing, the film transforms into a grave meditation on the corrosive shadow cast by the decisions, and crimes, of yesterday. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Mar 2, 2017

At first Apprentice seems to be a basic revenge film in which Aiman stalks the man who killed his father. But it becomes psychologically more complex. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Feb 28, 2017

The movie feels a little too sparse and literal in places. Read full review

The Film Stage Ethan Vestby

Mar 2, 2017

While not without the occasional jolt of a sudden execution, the film feels so wholly tell and not show. Its left-wing politics about toxic masculinity bleeding into the justice system are so much a given that it’s just a dead-weight experience to watch. Read full review

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 26, 2021

This is very much a sobering watch - not an easy one, especially for the squeamish, or those prone to claustrophobia, for obvious reasons. I suppose it made me think, if but a little, of the film The Green Mile. The moral quandary of whether it can ever be, or feel, right to take someone'sThis is very much a sobering watch - not an easy one, especially for the squeamish, or those prone to claustrophobia, for obvious reasons. I suppose it made me think, if but a little, of the film The Green Mile. The moral quandary of whether it can ever be, or feel, right to take someone's life after them having taken someone else's, well, that's surely one of the oldest questions and most debated things in many hundreds of years, esp. since the rise of what's regarded as civilised society.

I thought this film did well at showing things from the point of view of the main character, Aiman, played by Firdaus Rahman. I would recommend this, as an example of a decent drama which is a piece of world cinema (its mainly in Malay, with some English dialogue). Its a tough watch due to the theme, as I say but otherwise its worth a watch.… Expand

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JLuis_001

Feb 14, 2018

Complex, undoubtedly complex, if you watch it accompanied you will have an interesting post-movie talk.

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golemgac

Mar 6, 2017

Junfeng Boo delivers deep and well acted drama with really interesting subject. Although we won't find here many cheap, emotional tricks, we can feel that the movie didn't get the most from that complicated issue which is the death penalty. Even if Apprentice leaves us with some thoughts,Junfeng Boo delivers deep and well acted drama with really interesting subject. Although we won't find here many cheap, emotional tricks, we can feel that the movie didn't get the most from that complicated issue which is the death penalty. Even if Apprentice leaves us with some thoughts, this controversial topic could have been more used in film to strike at spectator's mind and give him feelings how he would have be the executioner, the man who is a just tool in the hands of justice system. Instead, we got a story about young assistant, his sister and old hangman with unsatisfying, forgettable final which didn't live up to the rest of the movie. Probably it would have worked better if Firdaus Rahman had showed more passion to the main character or if we had got more interesting secondary performances. It's still good acting but I got the feeling that something is missing. In the conclusion we can say that it's decent drama for one time but someone will find here lack of aspiration to have stronger impact on the viewer.… Expand

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