THE APPRENTICE (15)

D: Ali Abbasi

Rich Spirit / Scythia / Profile / Tailored Films / AQuest / Hesd Gear / Metrol / AC / Wild 7 (Ali Abbasi, Louis Tisne, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Jacob Jarek & Daniel Bekerman)

Can/Den/Ire/US 🇨🇦🇩🇰🇮🇪🇺🇸 2024

122 mins

Drama/Biopic

W: Gabriel Sherman

DP: Kasper Tuxen

Ed: Olivier Bugge Coutte & Olivia Neergaard-Holm

Mus: Martin Dirkov

Sebastian Stan (Donald Trump), Jeremy Strong (Roy Cohn), Martin Donovan (Fred Trump, Sr.), Maria Bakalova (Ivana Trump), Charlie Carrick (Fred Trump, Jr)

Unsurprisingly, this biopic of Donald Trump in his pre-political days doesn’t portray the divisive character in a positive light, though it does feature an incredibly uncanny performance from Sebastian Stan as the real estate tycoon during the 1970s to late 1980s.

Real life politics aside, this remains a strong drama about the lust for power, greed, corruption and turning your back on the people that helped you get there.

Trump himself is initially portrayed as a vulnerable businessman fighting a legal case he considers unfair when he crosses paths with renowned lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn, who takes the younger Trump under his wing and teaches him some of his unsavoury tricks to success, which comes back to haunt him when he faces vulnerable times himself.

Sebastian Stan does an excellent job with his portrayal, getting Trump’s mannerisms and traits down pat, though the better performance belongs to Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, with a performance that was deservedly Oscar-nominated and probably should have won.

Whether you’re a Trump supporter or not, I  still think this is worth 122 minutes of your time.

7/10