The Apprentice received an eight-minute standing ovation when it debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The applause wasn’t for Donald Trump. It was for the genius of this film.
The movie is directed by Ali Abbasi, an Iranian-Danish film maker, from a script by journalist Gabriel Sherman, who has covered Trump for almost two decades now. Despite pushback from Trump supporters, including an investor who threatened to pull funding and a cease-and-desist letter from Trump’s lawyers that’s currently had no action taken from it, the project has moved forward.
The Apprentice explores the relationship between Trump and his mentor, Roy Cohn. Cohn is a corrupt lawyer who imparted his ruthless principles to Trump in his younger years when he was a rising real estate developer. It’s based on documented fact and stars Sebastian Stan (The Falcon and Winter Solder) as Trump, Jeremy Strong (Succession) as Roy and Maria Bakalova (Borat 2) as Trump’s first wife Ivana.
Director Abbasi’s raw style sets the tone of the gritty 1970’s and 1980’s New York, and he does a great job of somewhat humanising Trump. Scenes are nicely nuanced so small but key moments show Trump for who he is – completely unlikable, lacking compassion, and completely self-absorbed. It shows us how power corrupts, and changes people. While some people may feel this is a hack job on Trump’s character, he doesn’t need any help with that.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. The acting is brilliant, and I won’t be surprised to see this film dominate the awards season. Be aware there is a scene of sexual assault.