★★
Just as festival fatigue is beginning to set in, and Apprentice tilts it into full swing. The poster boy for that special genre of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard films with no soundtrack and lots of meaningful staring, this Official Selection entry tells an interesting story in a flat, uninteresting way.
Prison guard Aiman (Firdaus Rahman) transfers to Larangan Prison, where he’s happy for the work, until his curiosity is piqued by the facility’s executioner, Rahim (Wan Hanafi Su). After finding himself picked up as Rahim’s apprentice and exposed to the death sentence in practice, a secret from Aiman’s past threatens to shatter their relationship.
This international co-production has the logos of five different production companies, all from different countries, attached to it – so how did none of them pick up on the dull execution of concept in production? Director Boo Junfeng clearly cares for his protagonist’s journey, but shows no sense of individuality in his shot choices or pacing. There is no atmosphere of oppression, no looming dread of discovery, nor is there any sense of catharsis for the greater character conflicts established.
Instead, we’re offered two hours that feel like three, as Aiman walks the corridors of the prison and ponders both past and future. Rahman’s performance is promising, but he’s given little substance to work with – the man looks defeated from beginning to end, with the exception of one inconsequential outburst of violence.
The relationship that truly engages is that between Aiman and his sister, Suhaila (Mastura Ahmad), who takes the lion’s share of dialogue with any discernible humour. Even she succumbs to the grim pall hanging over proceedings.
Certainly, Junfeng’s nuanced examination of the death sentence in Southeast Asia is not without merit. The auteur goes to pains to make his condemned souls empathetic: in a striking moment, as Aiman and Rahim debate the heavy-handedness of the courts towards drug dealers, a dead man walking’s sons hold a candlelit vigil. A passing sequence where Aiman places the executioner’s hood over his own head is particularly memorable.
For a film with such a lengthy and complex production cycle, Apprentice bears the telltale signs of lazy filmmaking. Care and dedication have clearly been applied, but in service of a tale with no defining mark from its makers. Junfeng’s opportunity to snap his audience to attention is missed; the shortfall left only draws out our suffering.
Apprenticewas reviewed as part of Sydney Film Festival 2016.
