Barring
some extraordinary circumstance, this will be the last Oscar film I get the
chance to see before the ceremony next Sunday.
It’s one that I was a little skeptical about – though I can’t deny that
Aaron Sorkin writes them well, I wasn’t sure we strictly needed another “abrasive tech genius” biopic from him – but I found
it to be pretty interesting and really well-made.
Almost
the polar opposite of a comprehensive biopic, Steve Jobs is incredibly laser-focused. With the exception of a few well-placed
flashbacks and montages of news coverage to get from one segment to the next,
the entire movie depicts the buildup to three separate product launches: the Macintosh in 1984, the Next in 1988, and
the iMac in 1998. Yep, buildup – the running around and
behind-the-scenes drama (both professional and personal) that goes on in the
30-40 minutes prior to each launch.
Naturally, abrasive tech geniuses generate their fair share of
drama. Jobs’s chief conflicts concern
his partner Steve Wozniak, Apple’s CEO Jeff Sculley, and his unacknowledged
daughter Lisa.
Considering
that this film is at least 90% talking, it held my attention quite well. I don’t find Jobs to be a particularly
likeable figure – not surprisingly – but he’s an intriguing one. The pull between his blind stubbornness/refusal
to consider what customers are looking for (insisting on a closed system that’s
incompatible with everything else) and his savvy vision for the potential of
personal computing (promising products for which the technology doesn’t yet
exist, trusting that it’ll be able to catch up to him) keeps him from being
one-dimensional. Even as I hate the way
he treats everyone around as expendable, I like the way he shapes the world to
fit his imagination. (He’s still awful,
though. Seriously – piece. Of. Work.)
Screenwriter
Aaron Sorkin was the main creative name I heard behind the film, which, given The Social Network, makes sense. However, until I started actually watching
it, I had no idea that it was directed by Danny Boyle (where to start? Trainspotting,
127 Hours, National Theatre Live’s Frankenstein, Shallow Grave…) Sorkin’s
smart screenplay is definitely a big part of the reason such a talky film works
as well as it does, but Boyle’s work is instrumental, too. His deft hand and originality is evident all
throughout the effortlessly gorgeous direction.
Since so much of Apple is tied to its unique style and inventive
advertising, Boyle was an excellent choice to put this story on film.
It’s no
surprise that everyone in the fine cast delivers a strong performance. Our nominees for the film are lead actor
Michael Fassbender in the title role and supporting actress Kate Winslet as
Joanna Hoffman, his long-suffering “work wife.”
Fassbender plays all the various facets of Jobs with equal dedication,
while Winslet is a solid, grounding presence throughout the film. Jeff Daniels (Sculley) and Seth Rogen
(Wozniak) also do really well in their big scenes with Jobs, and I enjoy all
three actresses who play Lisa at different ages.
Warnings
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