The Apprentice (2024)
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice strives to do the unthinkable: make Donald Trump feel more human.
However, you are not supposed to feel sympathy for the man, even with Sebastian Stan’s charming demeanor. The goal of making him feel human is to understand how he became the monster he is today. We get to see Trump go from a man striving for success to the human embodiment of lies and deceit. This was achieved with the help of infamous lawyer, Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
Strong plays such a strong part in what makes the film work. You have to hate Roy Cohn from the second you see him. His gross and slimy nature are what make him so menacing and appealing to Trump in the first place. His presence lurks throughout the first half of the film, as he gains more and more influence on Trump’s image. But by the time he has gained his fame and notoriety, Cohn seems to almost vanish from the plot. While this was likely done on purpose, you can’t help but feel like something is missing from the film once Strong is gone.
A plus side to Strong’s departure is seeing Sebastian Stan sell his performance as Donald Trump. He is practically unrecognizable in his portrayal. He has perfectly captured his mannerisms and speech patterns without going full Alec Baldwin impression territory. He and Strong bounce off of each other so well as Trump and Cohn, that it almost feels like watching a documentary. It is also interesting to view this as one supreme succeeding another. As Roy Cohn becomes more and more ill, it is almost as if Trump absorbs the last bits of evil in the man, taking all of his worst traits. Another great performance in the film is Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. She perfectly showcases how people can be easily manipulated by people they believe they love. However, I wish she got a little bit more to do in this rather than being used only to show Trump’s growing corruption.
Aside from the acting, the camera work is another intriguing factor in this film. The story is shown to us in a home video format with shaky camera work, lots of static, and a smaller aspect ratio. While sometimes this does not work for me, other times it does. It does help to further immerse the audience into the time period and circumstances of the era.
While some parts feel very on the nose with what it’s trying to say, I do think this film gets its message across well. I think some of those obvious parts help to show just how unoriginal and hypocritical this man is sometimes. At this point in America, Trump feels like a fictional character on a sketch comedy show. Nothing he says feels real or coherent anymore, and I think this films existence goes to show that he used to have some decency. His own arrogance and ambitions just destroyed all of it.