Steve Jobs

 

Early in the opening act of the biopic, Michael Fassbender's Steve Jobs compares himself to Julius Caesar, claiming that all those around him are bent on bringing him down. The explicit comparison is clear, and reinforced by the image of Napoleon seen soon after - the first in several heavy-handed visual cues from director Danny Boyle. Although his remarks are dismissed by his peers as a typically Jobsian self-appraisal, the comparison continues to bare fruit throughout this portrayal. With his triumvirate of Steve Wozniak and John Sculley (Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels), they inspired the microcomputer revolution of the seventies, suffering his own Ides of March when later forced out of the company he helped create in 1985. But Jobs returned from exile to spearhead Apple as they revolutionized personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing, becoming the first $700 billion company in the process.

Aside from some flashback inserts, Aaron Sorkin’s script takes place entirely in the moments leading up to three major Jobs’ product launches: the Apple Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT computer launch in 1988 and the premier of the iMac in 1998. The settings allow Sorkin to relish what he does best, providing the slick, taut backstage voyeurism that made The West Wing so fascinating. In a relentlessly paced opening act, Jobs is presented as an island of steeled determination and almost psychotic calm in the midst of a tempest of professional and personal problems only moments before he is due on stage.

 

It is in his methodical dealing with these issues that we see the best and worst of his character. A refusal to accept answers that don’t serve his purpose see a key technical problem get fixed moments before the launch with the help of his Software Wizard (official title) Andy Hertzfeld (a brilliant Michael Stuhlbarg).  But this same trait sees him brutally refute the parentage of his five-year-old daughter to her face, while denying any aid to her mother, who lives in poverty. It’s the first glimpse at the main theme of Steve Jobs; as a businessman he was undeniably brilliant: driven, relentless and with the unequalled ability to understand his field. But as a man he was unforgiving, ruthless and cold. As Wozniak tells him in a heated exchange before the launch of the iMac, “Your products are better than you are. It’s not binary. You can be a decent guy and gifted at the same time.”

Fassbender’s portrayal of Jobs is a huge success. He overcomes the complete lack of physical resemblance to capture something deeper than his look, more than just mannerisms and speech patterns. He is joined by a stellar supporting cast, in which Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg and Kate Winslet – as his Head of Marketing, Joanna Hoffman – are all perfectly cast. Despite a couple of visual miscues, Boyle’s direction is also great, perfectly reinforcing the kinetic power of Sorkin’s script, creating an incredible sense of vibrancy and tension. He instills an energy reminiscent of great theatre, utilising the limitations of single locations and emphasising the minutiae of his actors’ performances, be it a single word, gesture or exhalation of breath.

But it is Sorkin’s film. Other than an ending that feels ever so slightly emotionally synthetic, his script is flawless. There’s more than a little of Citizen Kane in his story, with information of his Rosebud – Jobs’ adoption as an infant – drip-fed throughout, offering insight into the mindset of a man whose almost psychotically cruel denial of his child to her face is later softened to acceptance, and then love. If it sounds like a rather routine character arc, the combination of the brilliance of Sorkin’s characters, Boyle’s energetic direction and Fassbender’s pitch-perfect Jobs, it’s engrossing, entertaining and fascinating in equal measure.    

Steve Jobs is showing in Nottingham Cinemas now.

Steve Jobs Trailer