The rise of New York real estate mogul Donald Trump in the ‘70s and ‘80s is explored in Ali Abbasi’s richly entertaining and insightful biopic that on one level plays like a supervillain origin story; Sebastian Stan masterfully captures Trump’s all too familiar mannerisms without tipping over into caricature, embodying the ex-president’s toxic blend of vaulting ambition, and deep insecurity with admirable restraint. The drama pivots around Trump’s fateful meeting with the notoriously amoral attorney Roy Cohn (a sulphurous performance by Jeremy Strong) who takes the admiring younger man under his wing, educating him in his three tenets of success: relentlessly attack your adversaries, always claim victory, and never admit defeat.

Notes by David O’Mahony.