Mentor is a 2006 drama film directed by David Langlitz and written by William Whitehurst, exploring the relationship between a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and his protégée.

In the present, Carter has become a shadow of his former promise, a lethargic teacher, an alcoholic, excessive smoker, lacking the ability to sustain relationships.

Like Sanford, he has worked his way through a series of graduate assistant girlfriends, and we watch as he apparently allows his relationship with Susan (Lynn Chen) to wither away.

The film jumps back and forth from the present to ten years earlier, as Carter wrestles with the unresolved emotions he felt with Sanford and Julia.

The movie makes liberal use of flashback techniques, introducing the characters in 1997 at the end of their friendship, moving to the present day, then alternating between to sequential timelines, one in 1997 the other a decade later.