Exquisitely timed to hit cinemas a few weeks before the US election, The Apprentice is a lively if limited biopic of the Republican presidential candidate from the Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi (Border, Holy Spider). Scripted by Gabriel Sherman, you could call this ‘Donald Trump: The Early Years’ if you like, as it rewinds to the 1970s and 80s, showing how the future White House occupant went from nothing to one of New York’s most powerful real-estate moguls. 

Playing Trump is Sebastian Stan, the Marvel man who is enjoying a spectacular time with this and A Different Man, also out this month. As good as he is, however, he’s somewhat trumped (no pun intended) by Jeremy Strong with the Succession star playing Trump’s long-time lawyer Roy Cohn, who mentors his apprentice (the title also smartly nodding to the business-oriented reality TV show that Trump fronted for 14 seasons). Feeling like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (minus the porn), Abbasi’s movie comes with lashings of style and an era-appropriate soundtrack which, as enjoyable as it is, does rather make it feel very superficial. The Apprentice is effectively a character study that sets out to show how Trump became a ruthless player, as he literally changes New York’s skyline with such gargantuan buildings as Grand Hyatt and Trump Tower. 

Admittedly, it’s hard to argue we learn a great deal about this Machiavellian figure that we don’t already know, although the controversial scene where he’s allegedly abusive to wife Ivana (Borat star Maria Bakalova) led the Trump camp to stringently deny all when the film premiered in Cannes. The Apprentice predictably excels through Strong’s showing as Cohn, a gay man in the midst of the AIDS crisis. From a cocksure player to an embittered shadow of his former self, it’s a brilliant, awards-worthy performance that outshines the film as a whole.

The Apprentice is in cinemas from Friday 18 October.