"The Apprentice is a film about the rise of Donald Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) under the mentorship of the unscrupulous lawyer Roy Cohn (Succession's Jeremy Strong) in 1970s New York. However, the film transcends the conventions of the typical Hollywood biopic. Directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider), it does not opt for caricature (Stan's performance is very restrained) but rather aims for a calculated and astute representation of greed, power, and an ambition that transcends any morality or loyalty. In terms of facts, it reveals nothing that isn’t already known about Cohn and Trump, but as a study of the thirst for power and a genealogy of the rotten far-right elite in the United States, it is as fascinating as it is entertaining."