The Apprentice

What starts as a slow-burn rom-com between Trump and Coen slowly decends into full blown nightmare fuel. Really fascinating direction to take this movie and utterly refreshing for a biopic, especially for the story of a man which could've easily become a parody or exaggerated very quickly.

It's a wonderful look into how circumstances made the man who we know today, perhaps it's a little neat in how it justifies what made Trump as vile a person as he is, but that's simply a problem inherent in most biopics. It was fascinating to see the evolution of this man based on his environments and never having to lose making him into the unrelenting man he is.

Sebastian Stan's slow morphing into the Trump we know is a horror to watch but also just a performance to marvel at as he loses himself behind the awful, repulsive human being. He's really lost in this role and his decision to play him more subtley instead of an impression was genius. He nailed his mannerisms and behavour that it was actually scary in moments how he embodied this man as well as he did.

Maria Bakalova is brilliant as Ivana and there's a turning point for her character that is so harrowing but allows her to access a different side to this person in the following scenes which is wonderful. The standout I think though was Jeremy Strong who delivers an incredible performance as Roy Coen. Perhaps it's because Roy is the most complex character in the film but Strong brings so much nuance to a man who is as deplorable as Trump but yet allows you to feel empathetic towards him as well. Roy is positioned as such, being this vile human who's capatalist needs meant he would step on anyone is his way but also was facing a society who hated him for who he was and was victim to the time period.

Really loved this more than I was expecting and loved just a different take on biopics, this felt like it had a voice behind it, with a number oif creative decisions which were really unique, like the choice to film on different mediums for different time periods. It suffers from the trappings of biopics in some areas sadly but still a very compelling watch. It also doesn't explicitly have a desire to make him look evil behind it and instead just presents you with what happened which I think is the most compelling way to show how evil this man is