By David Baldwin
It is the 1970s and Donald J. Trump (Sebastian Stan) is looking to make a name for himself in the Manhattan real estate scene. By chance, he meets high powered attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) who takes a liking to the young Trump and takes him under his wing, helping him with legal issues and teaching him ways to be a winner (or more accurately, a “killer”) rather than a loser.
THE APPRENTICE is one of the most controversial films of the year and will likely only gain further notoriety in the lead up to the US Elections this November. Director Ali Abbasi’s (previously at the festival for Border and Holy Spider) film is not so much a hit piece on the former US President so much as it is an exploration of who Trump was before he became the Trump we all know today. Think of it as a Donald Trump Begins kind of story, where we watch in horror as he goes from a young man with ideals and morals to an older, savvier businessman obsessed with his looks and expanding his empire. It is frequently funny but also rather bleak in its depiction, though it shies away from truly indicting him for the monstrous things he did then and will do later.
While I am a little ambivalent on some of the stylistic choices the Film makes – looking more filmic during the 1970’s and more like it was recorded on a fuzzy VHS tape in the 1980’s – I was very pleased with the performances from Stan and Strong. They both sound a little like they are trying to emulate Christopher Walken’s voice in the early goings, but they both bring a strength and an unbridled energy that will force you to keep watching. SUCCESSION fans already knew what an intensely gifted individual Strong is from his impeccable work on the Emmy-winning TV series and he brings the same level of dedication here. Stan on the other hand, has rarely if ever given as spectacular a performance as he does here. Watching him transform physically and introspectively over the course of the film is a thing of beauty, as are the ways Stan introduces inflection points and hand movements.
Supporting turns from Maria Bakalova as Trump’s first wife Ivana and Martin Donovan as Trump’s father Fred are both excellent, as is the makeup effects. There is a certain artificiality feel that left me cold alongside frequent bouts of the production design emulating a TV movie versus an actual film production but when you are as laser focused as you will be watching Stan in his element, you will quite likely barely notice at all.
THE APPRENTICE screened privately for critics during TIFF ’24 on Thursday, September 5.
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