#69: THE APPRENTICE

STARRING: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan. Written by Gabriel Sherman, directed by Ali Abbasi, cinematography Kasper Tuxen. Budget $16 million. Running time 123 minutes.

It's 1973 and dough-eyed and dough-bodied, mummy's boy Donnie Trump (Sebastian Stan) spends his days engaged in shaking down his slum tenants for overdue rent on behalf of his bullying, over-bearing oaf of a father, Fred (Martin Donovan). But secretly dreams of building the bestest and biggest ever building in the whole of Manhattan with his name emblazoned on it in the vain hope his father will finally acknowledge him and tell him he loves him. When he meets the legendary attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) in an exclusive club his dreams start to come true, as the two men become friends, Cohn schools Donnie in the art of the deal and helps him to shed those last irritating shreds of decency and humanity all in the name of greed, gluttony and obscene wealth. 

The film follows the appalling rise and rise and rise of Donald Trump, the worst American President in history, a man of such consummate self-belief and avarice that he somehow made it seem like a virtue.

I often find myself during lunch times watching boat fail videos on Youtube, or compilations of rally car or super-car crashes, there's something both fascinating and horrifying about them and yet you can't look away. The same can be said of this, featuring as it does a man so repellent and despicable that you can never take your eyes off him, even as he raping his wife, paying off his suicidal brother, having sex with sex workers, or lying, cheating and clawing his way over everyone to slime his way to the top. You can't help but watch transfixed by the sight of a young Donnie Trump as he bloats his way through NY circa 1970-1980.

Of the film itself, well Sebastian Stan is simply superb and proves in both this and A Different Man to be an actor of great skill and depth. But it's Jeremy Strong who has to be seen to be believed, bringing a horrific malevolence and diabolical energy to his portrayal of  Roy Cohn making him one of the scariest movie villains of all times, like a human shark and yet at the same time imbue-ding him with a sense of fragility, particularly as his health declines. Similarly the look and direction of this aren't flashy or gimmicky, allowing the characters to shine and boy do they shine. 

The cinematography by Kasper Tuxen is perfect capturing the era with a grainy light effect and making it feel as if it was shot in the 70s, the production design too is impressive and the use of vintage footage. 

As the film progresses we see the birth of Donnie's many mannerisms and physical ticks that Stan captures with subtlety, we also see the birth of a friendship between Donnie and Cohn that grows to become all consuming and we see how true the old saying power corrupts as Donnie sheds the last semblance of humanity as his greed takes over completely. 

This is a film you can't take your eyes off, it's horribly compelling and deeply unsettling and perfectly displays the birth of a real life supervillain. 

8/10