The Apprentice

Director: Ali Abbasi 
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Stron, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Catherine McNally, Charlie Carrick, Ben Sullivan, Jason Blicker, Mark Rendell, Bruce Beaton, Ian D. Clark, Tom Barnett, Stuart Hughes
Running Time: 123 min.
Rating: R

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Depending on your perspective, Ali Abbasi's Donald Trump origin story The Apprentice can be viewed as either a grotesque hit job or an accurate biographical examination of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in American history. Or maybe, it's just a little of both. In most biopics, lines between fact and fiction blur to a point where the truth rarely matters, which is a wicked irony its subject would likely appreciate, if the movie were about anyone but him.

It revolves around a young, aspiring real estate mogul out to prove his father wrong, hustling to make a mark long before becoming a TV star or being twice elected President of the United States. With studios unwilling to take the legal risk of releasing this and everyone getting their fill of the real thing 24/7, Abbasi gives us the only Trump movie we'll probably ever need. Its title refers not to his wildly popular reality show of the 00's, but a stint decades earlier under the learning tree of cutthroat attorney Roy Cohn, who takes the eager, inexperienced businessman under his wing. A decision he'll later regret.

It's 1973 and a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) is trying to get the federal government off the back of his real estate tycoon father Fred (Martin Donovan) who's being investigated for discrimination against African-American tenants. Trump meets with combative New York lawyer Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who agrees to help, in the process showing his new protégé how to make media connections and dress for the part. He also assists Trump in his quest to turn the dilapidated midtown Commodore Hotel into a Hyatt, blackmailing government officials to obtain a tax abatement.

Gaining fame and notoriety, Trump marries Czech model Ivana (Maria Bakalova) while his troubled airline pilot brother Fred Jr. (Charlie Carrick) sinks deeper into alcoholism. As his ego inflates by the day, he stops listening to Cohn and invests in rash, money losing ventures like the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Pushing everyone away, the marriage to Ivana implodes, as does his friendship with Cohn, whom he betrays during the crooked prosecutor's time of dire need.

It's pretty wild to finally see on screen what we've only read or heard about Trump's formative years in New York prior to him becoming as a household name. And while Abbasi lays that groundwork magnificently, the switch isn't flipped by a single event or even two. This evolution was brewing from the start, informed by both his strict upbringing and professional association with Cohn. There's an inevitability to it while still suggesting this could have gone another way for Trump if just a few things fell differently. But it didn't and Cohn lights a fuse he'll get to see explode before his 1986 death.

The film fittingly opens with the nation's jaded skepticism surrounding Watergate's immediate aftermath before seguing into the Reagan years, when Trump experiences his greatest success as the living embodiment of Gordon Gekko's "greed is good" philosophy. But it's Cohn who gives his pupil the three rules all winners live by: "attack, attack, attack," never admit wrongdoing and always claim victory, even in defeat. 

Trump will later claim those eerily prophetic rules as his in the bestselling "The Art of the Deal," but when he first encounters Cohn he's impressionable and clueless, struggling to escape the grip of his controlling dad. And what's most surreal about watching this interpretation of Trump in the late 70's is that he sort of comes across as likable and ambitious enough for us to see the same untapped potential Cohn does.

Cohn is depicted as a monster not above using blackmail, threats and intimidation against his adversaries. He's also a closeted gay Jew prone to hurling homophobic, antisemitic and misogynistic slurs when he feels it'll give him an edge, perceived or actual. Only at his lowest point do we get a small glimpse into why, though the script is careful not to frame that as some kind of mea culpa. He is who he is, with Abbasi and writer Gabriel Sherman wisely opting not to sugarcoat it.

With his piercing gaze and a robotically rapid fire delivery, an unrecognizable Jeremy Strong pulls off the ultimate disappearing act as Cohn. Conveying complete control at all times, the most powerful part of his performance comes when the teacher realizes he's done too good a job training Trump, as the prized student absorbs all of Cohn's heartless lessons, only to eventually use them against his mentor. But even when the crooked prosecutor's braggadocious bluster is stripped away by AIDS, Strong keeps us guessing as to whether he actually changes or was just overtaken by someone more ruthless.

That an ailing Cohn continues telling lies on his deathbed out of self preservation seems on brand for him, as if concealing his illness and homosexuality would somehow rescue an already shattered reputation. Strong doesn't play this for empathy or press the issue, instead subtly hinting that maybe the tiniest shred of humanity seeps through at the end.

Trump's uncomfortably disgusted reaction to Cohn's health nearly mirrors his feelings about Fred Jr.'s alcoholism. While he's initially supports his big brother and famously still doesn't drink because of this, their father looms large, insultingly calling his TWA pilot son a "bus driver with wings." And although Fred complains about how much of screw up Donald is also, it won't be long before the latter replicates his father's attitude, writing Fred Jr. off as a loser before his death shakes him in a way we don't quite expect. 

Well played with condescending cruelty by Martin Donovan, family patriarch Fred Trump is often pointed to as the central motivator for Donald's obsession with power and success. This portrayal doesn't refute that, but more noteworthy is how their relationship changes once Fred's grip slips and he's surpassed by his son, who seeks a validation he'll never get. 

Fred's not just incapable of telling Donald he's proud of him, even his backhanded compliments seem cloaked in jealousy and disappointment. If Trump Tower's opening is the closest a clearly declining Fred comes to congratulating him, it's a pathetically half-hearted endorsement that comes too late to matter. By now, young Trump's already off to the races and isn't looking back.

Once Trump ascends, he stops listening and hates being told "no," whether it's from Cohn, Mayor Ed Koch (Ian D. Clark), his own mother Mary Anne (Catherine McNally), or in a particularly disturbing scene, Ivana. Amidst these futile attempts to push back is a strangely memorable moment where a doctor tries to convey the benefits of exercise to the appearance obsessed, amphetamine popping Trump. This leads to a surprisingly graphic but powerful montage involving liposuction and scalp removal surgery.

In a role no one thought could be believably filled, Sebastian Stan is a revelation, finding just the right balance in preventing the portrayal from sliding into parody or caricature. Less an attempt at mimicry than the effort to capture Trump from the inside out, he projects the steadiest of transformations. It isn't obvious right away, but as events accumulate and the tide shifts, Stan resembles him more and more, both physically and in his mannerisms. By the time we get to the third act that resemblance is downright scary, making good on the film's promise of being an "American Horror Story."

Despite immersing us in the grit and glitz of 80's New York with offbeat soundtrack choices and stripped down cinematography from Kasper Nuxen that's indistinguishable from period footage, there are key moments of foreshadowing. Whether it comes in a revealing TV interview where Trump's asked about a possible Presidential run, Cohn's legal machinations or an exchange with confidante Roger Stone that reveals the possible genesis for MAGA, the film masterfully hints how seeds may have been planted far earlier than anyone thought.

This could have gone wrong in so many different ways or come across as a feature length SNL skit, but Abassi instead delivers a compelling account that will now fall on time and distance to judge. As the pre-credit disclaimer reminds us, issues of accuracy and exaggeration will follow any biopic, but what's more noticeable here is how every minute succeeds in capturing the perception of Trump's bombastic public persona. And by zeroing in on this very specific era, we get further into the headspace of a man we've lately struggled to picture in an incarnation other than his current one.  

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Director: Jason Woliner
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova
Running Time: 96 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

When Borat was released in 2006 the general consensus was that it couldn't possibly be sequeled since the its entire premise was built upon the foul-mouthed, offensive, mustachioed title character's anonymity when fooling his unsuspecting targets. The movie became so big that star Sacha Baron Cohen was and is still is too recognizable as him, making the persona's return especially problematic. But now after fourteen years, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime For Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is his way back in and the solution to this dilemma was so simple, yet ingenious. Much like Baron Cohen disguised himself, so will Borat, partially doing away with the documentary-style improvisation that defined the original while retaining much of the first film's form and style. In its place is a more tightly scripted adventure that finds him as dumb and outrageous as ever, returning to a far different America than the one he left over a decade ago. 

Both horrifying and unbearably hilarious, it's the rare comedy sequel that surpasses the original, mainly because the stakes seem so much higher and the material far more controversial.  In a brutal skewering of the country's division that focuses almost entirely on the past eight months of Donald Trump's presidency, a perfect satirical storm converges, allowing Baron Cohen, to hit the material out of the park. But what's most astonishing about it is how the more heavily scripted format ideally fits this premise while sacrificing none of the unpredictable atmosphere that defined the character. Complete with the addition of a sidekick who basically steals the movie out from under him, that this boasts no less than eight credited writers makes it all the more shocking how spontaneous everything comes across, even when it isn't. Or when it is. Just look no further than what's become the infamous scene, as former New York City Mayor and Trump personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, finds himself in the most compromising of positions.

After humiliating his homeland of Kazakhstan fourteen years ago, journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Baron Cohen) is released from a gulag prison with the condition that he deliver his nation's prized Kazakh Minister of Culture Johnny The Monkey to President Donald Trump (or "McDonald" Trump as he calls him) as an attempt at redemption. But barred from going near the President, Borat instead makes plans to gift the monkey to Vice President Mike Pence (referred to as "Vice Premiere Mikael Pence"), at least until his surprise fifteen-year-old daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova) ruins that plan after joining him on the trip in a cargo crate. 

Parroting his nation's sexist, dismissive views of women with a handbook he lends Tutar, and adopting a variety of disguises, Borat must now present his own daughter as the gift to renowned "ladies man" Pence or face execution. And that's when the real craziness starts, as he begins remaking his daughter for this big moment, all while offensively awkward encounters with various strangers appalled at their behavior. With Borat inching ever closer to completing his mission, he's forced to examine the affect this will have on Tutar, while attempting to process America's heightened political climate amidst the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.  

It's pretty obvious early on that Baron-Cohen and first-time feature director Jason Woliner have no plans to pull any punches when early scenes feature Tutar watching an animated Disney-like fairy tale titled Melania, inspiring her to leave the country to be kept as property in a gilded cage just like the First Lady. Or when Borat, decked in full Trump costume, crashes Pence's CPAC speech as the VP touts that there only fifteen coronavirus cases while declaring the administration "ready for anything." But as pointed as these shots are, nothing really compares to the interactions Borat and his aspiring journalist daughter have with "regular" folks floored by their unpredictable antics.

The best, or maybe worst, of the pair's grotesque displays occur when under the guises of Professor Phillip Drummond III (what a reference) and Sandra Jessica Parker Drummond, they simultaneously surprise and horrify the guests of a debutante ball with a father-daughter dance that concludes in a widly inappropriate fashion. They also encounter a plastic surgeon ready to physically transform Tutar before she's given away, a babysitter who tries to open her eyes to her nation's misogynistic lies, a Jewish woman attempting to convince Borat that the Holocaust actually happened and, most memorably, a pair of QAnon conspiracy believers with whom Borat stays with when the pandemic takes hold. And wait until you see the song he performs at their right-wing March for Our Rights anti-lockdown rally, to an overenthusiastic response. 

While Baron Cohen's funniest and timeliest thrashing yet only reinforces the longstanding belief in his comic genius, almost equal credit should go to Maria Bakalova, who dives into the role of Tutar with fearless abandon from the moment she appears on screen. It's their scenes together that make this whole experience work, perfectly playing off each other as they move from one embarrassing situation to the next oblivious of their behavior, much of which revolves around her shock that women are allowed to drive and hold down jobs. The amount of visual gags and one-liners that land are abnormally high, not only because of their timing, but the pitch-perfect reactions of anyone who happens to be within their orbit. Couple that with the fact there's a compelling plot so closely tied to current events and it's hard to argue that this strikes a nerve its preceding film couldn't, even concluding with a Usual Suspects-like third act twist that cleverly blurs the lines of this fictionalized reality.  

What's actually been overlooked about Rudy Guiliani's hotel room moment is how much of a centerpiece it is, as if all roads of the plot lead us there, to that scene, literally the main event of all this. And that it probably ranks on the lower end of the film's jaw-dropping sequences tells you everything you need to know about what to expect. In Rudy's defense, what he believes to be a real interview with a legitimate journalist starts for him as professionally as possible until Tutar's advances begin and things start deteriorating in a hurry. The most disturbing thing about it is how he casually behaves as if this is business as usual, resulting in a noticeable jolt when the truth's revealed.

Caught with his pants down in the most literal sense, it's difficult for even the most skilled spinsters put a positive shine on what ends up being the worst look possible for this formerly respected public figure, now a very long way from his "Time Person of the Year" status. Though to be fair, he had already done a pretty good job sullying that reputation well before this. Set-up or not, this scene of him is now on permanent record for audiences and the media to endlessly dissect, regardless of its context. 

What's so dumbfounding about the Giuliani situation could easily apply to the film as a whole, as Baron Cohen's methods as Borat always seem to land the biggest blows on those stubbornly entrenched in their own belief system, occupying self-contained bubbles with few moral limits. As far as the accusation that satire this timely won't age well, there's little chance it could ever hold up as poorly as the actual events inspiring it. If anything, this should be the go-to piece of entertainment for anyone yearning for the ultimate satirical reflection of the past year's insanity.