Directed by Ali Abbasi (Border (2018); Holy Spider (2022); Shelley (2016)) and starring Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014); Avengers: Endgame (2019); We Have Always Lived in a Castle (2018); I, Tonya (2017)), Jeremy Strong (The Big Short (2015); The Gentlemen (2019); the Judge (2014); Succession (TV series, 2018-23)), Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020); The Honeymoon (2022); The Father (2019)), Martin Donovan (Tenet (2020); BlackBerry (2023)) and Charlie Carrick (Alide, Darling (2022); Hidden Assets (TV series, 2021-23)).
Drama; 122 mins; 12+; a co-production from Ireland, Canada and Denmark.
Set in the 1970s in New York City, it is a story of power, corruption and lies in the time of Nixon.
It sees Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) in his late 20s start off as a rent collector for his father's block of flats; however, he has his sights on bigger projects and sees a rundown hotel near Grand Central Station which he wants to buy and transform.
To achieve his goals, he needs an ally, someone who can fight the system, so he teams up with Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a notorious lawyer and political fixer who instilled into him a warped sense of patriotism. He invited Trump to extravagant parties at which he would meet businessmen, politicians and others who could help him in the future. Such characters included the artist Andy Warhol New York mayor Ed Koch.
Trump does not smoke nor drink, but he is seen doing the latter early on in his relationship with Cohn, to fit in, be accepted and ultimately get what he wants; it also portrays his a popping diet pills, both that his weight is under control and also that he can do with less sleep.
Cohn had given Trump three rules by which to win: "One: Attack, attack, attack. Two: Admit nothing, deny everything. Three: Always claim victory, never admit defeat".
A number of scenes involve the family, sometimes at dinnertimes, including his father Fred Trump (Martin Donovan) who give both Donald and his brother Freddy Trump (Charlie Carrick) a hard time. But the boys want to seek approval and recognition from their father.
It also shows him falling for Czech model, Ivana Trump (Maria Bakalova), and chasing her until she agrees to marry him, albeit not until see signs a pre-nuptial agreement insisted upon by Cohn.
By the end of the two hours, the young and naïve Donald Trump who was originally "the apprentice" to Roy Cohn, has transformed to turn the tables on his friend and mentor who by now has become ill and weak, in a role reversal.
On general release in Luxembourg from Wednesday 16 October 2024 at Kinepolis. It is interesting that the release has coincided with the US Presidential election being just a few weeks away...
