**Spoiler Alert**
Director: Danny Boyle/Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogen, Michael Stuhlbarg and Katherine Waterston
Director Danny Boyle's new film; Steve Jobs, has sustained criticism in the media for its inaccuracies and its distorted portrait of its subject. Though most biopics can be said to take liberties with their subjects, apparently Boyle's film has gone further; almost re-imagining the man; thus marginalizing his essence. But after having seen documentary film-maker Alex Gibney's recent documentary on Steve Jobs; Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, one might conclude otherwise. If Boyle's film has taken a more hyperbolic course, it has also held firm to basic facts about his life and relationships; specifically his fall-outs with colleagues and his troubled history with his daughter Lisa; who Jobs initially failed to acknowledge as his own.
But if we can accept Boyle's film as an imaginative biopic, then we can settle into what is an extraordinary film. When collaborators as ferociously talented as Danny Boyle, Michael Fassbender and dialogue master Aaron Sorkin join forces, you get something as electrifying as Steve Jobs; a lacerating and unforgiving look at a man whose obsessive push to innovate earned him the enmity of colleagues but the love of an industry and consumers.
Boyle's film isn't structured as a cradle to grave biopic but instead focuses on three salient moments in Jobs' life: the unveiling of the Macintosh home computer, the presentation of his Next Computer after his dismissal from Apple; and finally the announcement of the iMac. Each chapter in the narrative takes place in auditoriums, where industry personnel, the media and techies swarm like rock concert attendees to see and hear their guru present his latest products. But the stages are almost beside the point; dramatically speaking. The real stories in the film take place backstage, where Jobs' bickering with his staff mingles with intense exchanges with his ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) over his duties to his daughter, for whom he refuses to acknowledge his paternity. Another figure who makes intermittent appearances in said scenes is John Sculley (Jeff Daniels); former CEO of Apple and one-time colleague of Jobs, who looms large in the story. And of course Jobs' tempestuous relationship with Apple co-creator Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) figures prominently.
As backstage dramas unfold, I felt the story reaching for Shakespearean heights, with Jobs as a kind of king driven to paranoia and megalomania. We also see how Jobs charisma attracts followers, while his intolerance for anything he deems obstructive repels those around him. And like a Shakespearean play, the three key moments serve as acts to dramatize the king's rise and fall; success before a tragic end.
In the first scene, we see some of Jobs' obsessive pursuit of success as Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlberg); one of Apple's key designers, informs his boss that the Macintosh won't be able to greet the audience as expected. Jobs reacts to the news with angry impatience while also issuing Hertzfeld threats and a command to correct the problem in a mere twenty-minutes. If the real Jobs' anger was anything like Fassbender's version, it must have been quite fearsome and intimidating. While Hertzfeld anxiously attempts to address Jobs' angry directive, another drama simmers elsewhere. Jobs finds Chrisann in his dressing room; daughter in tow. Chrisann wastes little time in asking how Jobs can leave his girlfriend and daughter at the mercy of welfare when his Apple stock is worth $400 million. Jobs forcefully rejects her claims about being Lisa's father while Chrisann quotes an article from one of his recent interviews where he coldly stated that twenty-eight percent of the men in America could be Lisa's father. The opening Macintosh sequence is effective in capturing the pressing issues in Jobs' professional and private life. In spite of his protestations, Jobs shows interest in his daughter when Lisa begins to tinker with a Macintosh prototype resting on a table. He guides her as she draws him a picture using the draw and paint feature then shows her how to save it.
We also see Jobs and Steve Wozniak lock horns over an issue involving giving credit to the Apple 2 team for their work; a gesture Jobs feels unnecessary and Wozniak an imperative. Though Wozniak cites the Apple 2 as a top-earner in Apple's product line, Jobs sees it as something old and of the past. Wozniak's tireless efforts to have the Apple 2 team recognized becomes a bone of contention that runs through the narrative.
In time we meet John Sculley, the former CEO of Pepsi. who Jobs lures to Apple. The appropriation of Sculley becomes tragically ironic as Jobs is later fired by the same man he wooed to be its CEO. The story gives us the backstory on how the two men met, which leads to the pivotal meeting in which the board--and Sculley--vote to oust Jobs from Apple.
So the film's principal figures are established early, while the rest of the film shows us how the various relationships evolve. We also see, in time, how Jobs comes to accept his role as father in Lisa's life and how he bounces back from his fall to regain control of Apple.
After so many narrative and documentaries on Jobs' life, details and facts have become common knowledge. There is little point in offering the audience a comprehensive account of his life. Instead, Boyle and Sorkin pinpoint major events in his life that define his visionary brilliance, but also his capacity to be cruel, callous and oblivious to others feelings and needs. This is partly accomplished by Fassbender's intensity and his ability to interpret Sorkin's intoxicating dialogue. Complimenting Fassbender is Kate Winslet, who is no less amazing as Joanna Hoffman; Jobs' head of marketing. Watching Hoffman follow Jobs around, we see her not only as a colleague but an indispensable ally who often acts as his conscience and as a kind of consigliere. Like Jobs, Hoffman is a salad of contradictions. She is often dismayed by Jobs behavior and lack of regard for others but is nevertheless steadfast in her loyalty.
The film also captures Jobs' populist bent. It makes sense that a man who envisioned computers being in the hands of the average Joe would hire a former CEO of Pepsi; a product consumed by the masses. Jobs' appropriation of Bob Dylan's image is consistent with his every-man perspective. As Dylan's folk music addressed the common man's condition, Jobs always considers how the average person will use his machines.
As aforementioned, auditoriums always serve as settings, which means many tracking shots through corridors and hallways, as well as backrooms. Very little of the film actually takes place onstage, which is very interesting.
Boyle leaves any assessment of Jobs and his legacy for audience value judgements. Was Jobs a genius or just a canny trendsetter? Was he a Napoleonic monster or just ferociously driven, or both? Does he deserve credit for Apple's success or did he just exploit its talent for personal aggrandizement? At one moment in the film, Jobs likens what he does to a conductor leading an orchestra. Though the conductor plays no instrument, he says, he plays the orchestra. Later, when Wozniak confronts Jobs in an auditorium, with many onlookers, he asks him what his particular contribution to the company is if he doesn't design or build the actual computers. Jobs earlier comment about playing the orchestra comes to the fore. That might also serve as the film's perspective on Jobs' essential contribution to Apple.
Steve Jobs is a hypnotic film; one that leaves you in wonder and flabbergasted at how good it is. It is hyper-smart and never dull for a moment. It is cerebral but bloody in a figurative sense. I can't speak for its accuracy but its excellence might lead one to overlook its lapses in biographical integrity.
After seeing several films on Steve Jobs the past few years, I hope Boyle's film will signal the beginning of a moratorium on the subject. Maybe it will even be considered the definitive film; discouraging future versions. Let's hope; I'd hate to see one more film on the Apple co-creator; one starring Dwayne Johnson.
