Dir. Joanna Natasegara · 2026 · 105 min · on Netflix
In 2015 the Wu-Tang Clan sold a double album of which only one copy existed, 31 tracks in a handmade silver box, with a clause that barred its buyer from commercial release for 88 years. The buyer was the pharmaceutical fraudster Martin Shkreli. The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable tells that story, but its subject is the man who made the album happen: Tarik Azzougarh, who raps as Cilvaringz. He grew up in Tilburg obsessed with the group and ended up inside it, signed to RZA's label, opening on tour, producing, and masterminding the record.
It premiered at Sundance in January and reached Netflix on 16 October. It is Natasegara's feature debut as director, after producing documentaries such as The White Helmets and The Edge of Democracy.
The premise is hard to beat. A fan from a small city talks his way into the inner circle of one of hip-hop's great groups, then helps make an artwork designed as a protest against what streaming had done to the value of recorded music. Critics largely agree the album's saga is the film's best material. Variety's Chris Willman called it an amusing yarn, well told, and thought Cilvaringz a charismatic narrator of his own story. In Review Online singles out Cyrus Bozorgmehr, the album's creative advisor, as the best interviewee, with vivid anecdotes about its chaotic rollout.
The "Shaolin" saga makes for an amusing yarn, well told, in "The Disciple."Chris Willman, Variety
Sundance's own notes on the film describe a formal idea: present-day scenes in black and white, archival 1990s material in colour.
This is where critics divide. Willman flags the lack of fresh interviews with the nine core Wu-Tang members as a pretty big hole to fill in. In Review Online finds the first hour meandering, with anecdotes that go nowhere, and calls the whole closer to a defence of those responsible than an investigation: questions about whether this is a genuine Wu-Tang record, and about how the artists were paid, are raised and then dropped. Micropsia is warmer, but also finds the fan-obsession first half slower, and wants more Wu-Tang in a film about Wu-Tang. A reading of the reviews: it is much better as a strange true story than as a hard look at it.
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It is streaming on Netflix. Availability varies by country, so check your local catalogue.
Reviews and reporting this piece draws on: critics' quotes on Rotten Tomatoes (Variety, RogerEbert.com and others), In Review Online, Micropsia, Variety on the Netflix deal, Sundance Institute and Wikipedia's summary of the reception. This is a critical reading, not a viewing report.