The Apprentice
Directed by Ali Abbasi
- history
- drama
- comedy
The story
A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
What it’s like
Cold, sallow 1970s New York rendered in grimy practicality: fluorescent-lit offices, smoky bars, dim apartments with heavy drapes, and a palette of tobacco yellow, steel grey and dried-blood reds that makes the city feel sticky with money and menace. Director Ali Abbasi favors tight, watchful framing and slow pushes into faces, with the camera often hovering just behind a character's shoulder, so the unease builds in small glances rather than spectacle. The score is sparse and pulsing, with long stretches of ambient room tone that make every phone ring and courtroom murmur feel loaded. Vibe: corrosive, darkly comic, clinical. It suits a late, alone viewing when you want something that feels like watching a power structure at work. Pacing is measured and deliberate, the mood cold and unsettling more than shocking. Arcs trace a restless, insecure young man absorbing a predator's methods, and the emotional register stays chilly and cynical. Intensity is significant: a graphic sexual assault scene, frank depictions of sex and nudity, brief violence, and the shadow of AIDS illness, with dread and discomfort more than gore. For viewers who want political drama about ambition and moral rot, not something gentle.
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