“the apprentice”
many people have rated and reviewed the film “the apprentice.” peter bradshaw—the esteemed art critic at the guardian—offers a two-star rating (out of five). i typically trust bradshaw’s judgment. it seemed that the film is not worth spending the time watching.
still, i went to see the film anyway. the subject is riveting. it is supposed to be about a satirical portrait of donald trump and his dynamic with roy cohn. after all, the poster has reminded us that the goal of the film is to depict “an american horror story.” therefore, one walks into the movie theater without expecting the film to be a complimentary account of trump.
the timing of this film is quite interesting, too. at least in ann arbor, the season of halloween is in the air—i suppose it is the same with other american cities. i’m not sure if the producers of the movie purposefully released it at this particular season. the film is indeed goofy. no ghosts or supernatural beings are involved. the trajectory of trump is goofy enough.
at the beginning of the film, donald trump works for his dad’s real estate company. his responsibility constitutes asking for rent door by door—thank god for technology that we can pay rent online nowadays. trump is a clumsy youngster who no one trusts. then trump joins a private club that precipitates his meeting with roy cohn. jeremy strong stars cohn. strong has a very special way of delivering the character. cohn is always very pale—in a way that makes his face dark and grim and just creepy.
cohn is a closeted gay homophobe. anyhow, cohn spots out trump in the crowd and decides to take him as a protege. cohn introduces trump to everyone in the room. trump shakes hands with rupert, this and that. cohn teaches trump three thumb of rules: (1) attack, attack, and attack. (2) admit nothing and deny everything. (3) always claim victory and never admit defeat. —i don’t believe the roadmap to success is this simple.
eventually trump and cohn has a fallout. the movie ends with cohn sobbing in front of trump and guests in trump’s florida mansion. Cohn realizes what a frankenstein he has created. then the camera shifted to trump in the operation room completing two plastic surgeries: first, oil suction from his belly; second, removal of bald scalp on the top of his head. —honestly it is quite gross. i walked out of the movie theater with tremendous unease. the poster is right, it indeed is a horror story.
peter bradshaw is right. the movie is ok at best. it does a good job of delivering a disgusting uprise of an important person. but the movie feels thin, the narrative is thin, and the dynamic between cohn and trump is thin. usually movies in this category depicts both the uprise and the downfall of a character. let’s think about tony montana, citizen kane, etc. both our reality and world “the apprentice” haven’t claimed the downfall part.
although, some good memorable things from the movie:
during a fight, ivana told donald:
you look like an orange
the movie does a great job replicating the hand gestures:
