Five years ago, Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi broke out internationally with the Oscar-nominated “Border,” a thorny little beast of a fable about love, complicity, and guilt. His latest prods at some of the same themes, although the thorny little beast at the center of “The Apprentice” is far from a fictional creature of fables. 

Abbasi’s newest chronicles the rise of former American president Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) through his relationship with lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).

Continue reading ‘The Apprentice’ Review: Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump? It Works! [Cannes] at The Playlist.

As the 77th Cannes Film Festival gets underway, there are plenty of obvious frontrunners for the coveted Palme d’Or. But don’t count out Ali Abbasi‘s “The Apprentice” as a dark horse pick to win the festival’s top prize. The latest film from the “Holy Spider” director (a film that won Best Actress at the 2022 fest) is quite the pivot for the Iranian-Danish filmmaker: a ’70s-set period piece about the professional relationship between a young Donald Trump and NYC lawyer Roy Cohn.

Continue reading ‘The Apprentice’: Jeremy Strong Compares Ali Abbasi’s Film To ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ Describes His Roy Cohn As “A Heart-Of-Darkness Heart Donor” at The Playlist.

How’s this for intriguing? Deadline reports that Sebastian Stan will star as a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice,” Ali Abbasi‘s feature follow-up to last year’s “Holy Spider.” And Stan isn’t the only big name to sign on to Abbasi’s new movie: “Succession” star Jeremy Strong is also on board to play attorney Roy Cohn, while Maria Bakalova will play Trump’s first wife, Ivanka.

Continue reading ‘The Apprentice’: Sebastian Stan Is Donald Trump In ‘Holy Spider’ Director’s Next Film, Jeremy Strong & Maria Bakalova To Also Star at The Playlist.

If you look at the previous two films from director Ali Abbasi, “Border” and “Shelley,” you are probably taken aback by the visual style and unique storytelling used by the filmmaker. And you probably wouldn’t assume that his next film would be a David Fincher-esque serial killer thriller. However, that’s exactly what Abbasi created with his latest film, “Holy Spider.”

READ MORE: ‘Holy Spider’ Review: Ali Abbasi’s Iranian True Crime Procedural Underwhelms [Cannes]

As seen in the trailer, “Holy Spider” is a film about a female journalist from Iran who goes to Mashhad to investigate the deaths of various women who are sex workers assumed to be murdered by the same killer.

Continue reading ‘Holy Spider’ Trailer: A Female Journalist Attempts To Find An Iranian Serial Killer In Ali Abbasi’s New Thriller at The Playlist.

A drastic departure from his prior films “Border” and “Shelley,” Ali Abbasi’s newest film, “Holy Spider,” draws inspiration from the 2000-2001 crimes and subsequent trial of Saeed Hanaei (played here by Mehdi Bajestani), a war veteran-turned-serial killer in the Iranian city of Mashhad who murdered 16 sex workers, claiming that he was cleansing the holy city of sinners and corruption in the name of Islam.

Continue reading ‘Holy Spider’ Review: Ali Abbasi’s Iranian True Crime Procedural Underwhelms [Cannes] at The Playlist.

By now, you’re hopefully familiar with Ali Abbasi’s“Holy Spider” film premiering at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. We premiered exclusive photos last weekend, a clip from the film was released and now a full trailer from the film has been released in what feels like a sure sign that the producers of the film are very confident about it.

READ MORE: Cannes 2022 Preview: 25 Must-See Films To Watch

Iranian-Danish film director and screenplay writer Ali Abbasi is definitely a filmmaker you should know and if the name sounds vaguely familiar it’s because his 2018 film, “Border,” a Swedish fantasy film about trolls in love, who also live amongst humans and work for the Swedish Customs Service, won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Continue reading ‘Holy Spider’ Trailer: Ali Abbasi’s Crime Thriller Tracks A Serial Killer In Iran at The Playlist.

Exclusive: The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is right around the corner (things kick off on May 17), and that means the Olympics of filmmaking with the best filmmakers worldwide competing for the coveted Palme d’Or. One of those filmmakers will be Iranian-Danish film director and screenwriter Ali Abbasi, whose new film “Holy Spider” will play in the official competition section during the festival.

It won’t be a light affair either and could potentially be one of the more controversial titles given its subject matter and the religious sensitivities around it.

Continue reading ‘Holy Spider’ First Look: Ali Abbasi’s Cannes Competition Title Is A Dark Iranian Serial Killer Hunt Drama [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

Over the past several weeks, HBO has been putting together the cast and crew that will bring the incredibly popular video game franchise, “The Last of Us,” to life. And while video game fans are probably excited just from knowing that the premium network is going to do a big-budget adaptation, film and TV fans that have little interest in the game will be jazzed by the most recent announcement of two directors that will helm episodes of the series.

Continue reading Acclaimed Directors Jasmila Žbanić & Ali Abbasi To Direct HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ TV Series at The Playlist.

If you’re looking for good recommendations for anything, you always want to get advice from an expert. So, that means if you want to know what up-and-coming directors are going to shape cinema in the next decade, you probably wouldn’t be wrong to ask filmmaker Bong Joon Ho. And that’s exactly what Sight & Sound did in a recent article, where the “Parasite” director lists 20 directors that he believes will be pivotal in the next decade.

Continue reading Bong Joon Ho Names 20 Filmmakers That Will Impact The Next Decade Of Film at The Playlist.

Tina’s upper lip quivers as she sniffs the air. She’s in uniform, watching as passengers stroll through an airport terminal corridor. She’ll pull one off to the side and find hidden booze, drugs, even secrets. Tina has a talent; she can smell emotions like guilt and fear and shame. As border security guards go, she’s in a class all her own.

“Border” is based on a short story by ‘Let the Right One’ In author John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Continue reading ‘Border’ Is A Compassionate, Empathetic Monsters Ball [NYFF] at The Playlist.

One of the biggest surprises coming out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival was “Border.” The Swedish film has some great talent behind it, with the author behind “Let The Right One In,” John Ajvide Lindqvist, writing the script and filmmaker Ali Abbasi directing. But even still, there was so much mystery surrounding the film, there was hardly any buzz going into Cannes.

Continue reading ‘Border’ Trailer: Cannes Un Certain Regard Winner Is Far From Your Typical Fairy-Tale Romance at The Playlist.

Bashing skulls, killing hobbits, or living under bridges, trolls aren’t generally afforded much empathy in cinema let alone in form of storytelling, but these mythical, cave-dwelling creatures receive a profoundly humane touch in the eccentric, oddly-touching and genre-bending fairytale “Border” (“Gräns”) from Iranian-born, Swedish-based filmmaker Ali Abbasi.

Co-written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the author of Swedish vampire movie “Let The Right One In,” the peculiar drama, replete with idiosyncratic Scandinavian sensibilities, recently won the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

Continue reading ‘Border’: Trolls Get Their Due In Strange, But Touching Swedish Drama [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Coming into this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we were excited to see Ali Abbasi’s latest film, “Border.” Described simply as a modern take on Nordic folklore, as told through the lens of border security, the film follows a border agent with an uncanny sense of smell, who meets a mysterious stranger at her job. Well, apparently, we were right to anticipate the film, as it was just announced as the big winner of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Continue reading Ali Abbasi’s ‘Border’ Wins Top Prize At The Un Certain Regard Section Of Cannes at The Playlist.

We’ve been fans of filmmaker Ali Abbasi for years now. His last film, “Shelley,” was one of our favorite horror films of 2016, back when we reviewed it at the Berlin International Film Festival over two years ago. Without relying on cheap jump scares, Abbasi fell back on building an atmosphere of dread that made “Shelley” one of the most unsettling horror films we’ve seen.

Now, Abbasi is back with his next film, “Border,” and judging by the exclusive clip we were given, the filmmaker is again pushing boundaries with his film about a customs agent with a unique gift.

Continue reading A Customs Officer Can Sniff Out Anything In First Clip From Upcoming Cannes Selection “Border” [Exclusive] at The Playlist.