A review of Steve Jobs (2015)
By David M. Farrington
David ‘n the Dark Rating: 10/10
An orchestral piece of music is made up of many different components. There is rhythm and melody, brass and strings, percussion and keys, adagio and allegro. With so many individual musicians playing their respective instruments it is the conductor who plays the orchestra, bringing all of the pieces seamlessly into the fold of a cohesive piece of art. This is how Steve Jobs describes his position as the head of technical development teams in director Danny Boyle’s newest film, Steve Jobs. This is also how I would describe Boyle’s stunning direction of the first true masterpiece of cinema to hit theaters in 2015.
Michael Fassbender, Makenzie Moss
We all know the story of Steve Jobs and his troublesome rise to becoming the frontrunner of technology as CEO of the Apple Corporation. Before his death, he had a reputation of being difficult to work with and for claiming credit for work that his designers and software developers were responsible for on numerous projects, just as the conductor takes a bow on behalf of the entire orchestra. Only Jobs took the credit for himself without acknowledging his instrumentalists. Based on the book by Walter Isaacson, Aaron Sorkin’s (The Social Network, Moneyball) screenplay tells the story of the key players in Jobs’ orchestra, the designers and developers without whom Jobs would have surely failed, eventually growing tired of his crap and standing up to him and demanding recognition. Told in three distinct chapters, the story treats us to the few hours before three major product launches: The Macintosh LISA in 1984, the NeXT Cube in 1988 and the iMac in 1998. Somewhat formulaic in nature, Jobs is visited by the same employees, mentors, confidantes and lovers from his past and present, presumably meaning to wish him well. In these meetings we learn what has transpired in the time lapse and just how Jobs has alienated, placated and/or manipulated each person in his life to reach his next goal; we learn just how he has played the orchestra.
Just as Jobs plays the conductor so does Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours), masterfully bring each element of the film into cohesive harmony. Sorkin hasn’t wasted a word or a moment, creating a beautifully detailed, poignant and very intelligent screenplay that Boyle uses as a conductor’s score to mine for clues and bring each instrument into perfect alignment. Boyle’s pacing is spot on, the tempo created by a natural ebb and flow of the beauty and horror in Jobs’ personal relationships which Sorkin’s dialogue captures brilliantly. Along with a stellar cast that he has directed to naturalistic gold, Boyle uses this as fuel to fan the fire consuming Jobs’ business dealings, creating a wonderful interplay that brings violent and often very funny emotion into what could be otherwise tedious exposition.
Jeff Daniels, Michael Fassbender
Seemingly inspired by Jobs’ own daring and courage in the face of possible disaster, Boyle has demanded no less of his design team. Alwin H. Küchler’s (Divergent, Proof) cinematography is elegant and striking. Mostly captured in off-center focus and utilizing blank spaces in the background for special effects projections or shadows and mirrored reflections, Küchler knows just how to tell the story effectively while capturing Guy Hendrix Dyas’ (Inception, Superman Returns) colorful and time-appropriate production design. Just as Küchler adopts the slightly grainy, VHS type imagery early on in the film which cleans up as we move forward in time to reflect changing technology as much as it sets time period, Dyas has treated each setting with careful attention to detail and era, moving from the cluttered browns and yellows of the early 1980s to the stark and colorful postmodern décor of 1998 which inspired the design of the iMac itself. Suttirat Anne Larlarb’s (The Walk, Slumdog Millionaire) costume design has followed suit with this trend and not one hairstyle, shirt or accessory is out of place. Even the original score by Daniel Pemberton (The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Counselor) gives us a staccato, computerized feel at the beginning of the film with chimes and dings that gradually matures into full orchestrations by the time the story reaches 1998. Of course, it is still a composition that we can believe was created on a computer and it is Boyle’s orchestration that has kept each separate melody of the film unified so no single element rises above to distract from the whole.
Kate Winslet, Michael Fassbender
Even the wonderful performances try to steal the show but can’t with Boyle’s masterful hand at work. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, X-Men: Days of Future Past) is striking as Steve Jobs, heartless on the exterior out of necessity for his career and public image, but reaching dangerous emotional depths beneath the surface. In the hands of a lesser actor, this duplicity that Sorkin has written into the character would come across as unjustified and violent mood swings, but Fassbender finds the balance easily and while we still don’t necessarily like Jobs by the end of the film, we do see the human side to the seeming tyrant. Fassbender has truly turned out one of his finest performances to date and, notwithstanding the highly anticipated Macbeth being released in December in which he plays the title role, this could well be Fassbender’s first Best Actor nomination from The Academy (he was nominated previously for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for 12 Years a Slave). Playing directly opposite Fassbender for most of Steve Jobs is Kate Winslet (The Reader, Little Children) who will absolutely take your breath away. With an impossibly detailed and nuanced performance (down to the nearly imperceptible Polish accent whose severity is determined by her emotional state), Winslet plays Jobs’ head of marketing Joanna Hoffman. Hoffman is a woman that does her job first and loves Steve Jobs second. Or maybe she swallows her pride in order to do her job because she is helplessly in love with him first. Like Fassbender, Winslet has found the delicate balance in Hoffman’s internal opposition and the end result is fascinating to watch.
Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet
The supporting cast of recurring characters is stellar, and every actor on screen down to the background performers lend their impeccable talents to this masterpiece. Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale, Something Wild) is scarily honest and understated in his duplicity as John Sculley, at once acting as Jobs’ father figure and mentor while betraying him professionally. Michael Stuhlbarg (Pawn Sacrifice, A Serious Man) will break your heart as the mastermind behind many of Jobs’ technical achievements who maintains a heart of gold in spite of allowing Jobs to treat him like a doormat. Seth Rogen’s (This Is the End, Pineapple Express) performance seems a little off at first, but once it sits with you a bit you realize that he plays a socially awkward character in Steve Wozniak (Woz), a member of the Apple II team that merely wants Jobs’ public recognition for the work he and his team have done. It is Woz’s constant uncomfortability in social situations that keeps him in a state of subservience and his loyalty to both Jobs and the team that puts him in conflict and inspires him to action. Rogen delivers a beautiful performance with a painful honesty that I haven’t seen from him before on screen.
Seth Rogen
Though all of these characters affect Jobs both personally and professionally, it is probably Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston/Queen of Earth, Inherent Vice) who pushes Jobs’ buttons the most while her daughter Lisa drives him to be innovative and successful. Chrisann claims that Lisa is Jobs’ daughter and even tells her that the LISA computer is named after her when it was not (or was it?). Constantly hounding Jobs for money while claiming an inability to support herself for various reasons over time, Waterston gives us a character that truly believes she is helpless and at the mercy of other people. We want to smack some sense into her and we would fault Jobs for continuing to help her were it not clear that he is only trying to provide a better home for Lisa. We hate Chrisann, but it is due to another nuanced performance by Waterston that we love to hate her. Credit must also be given to the three actresses who play Lisa at age 5 (Makenzie Moss/Do You Believe?, Bad Ass), age 9 (Ripley Sobo (Ricki and the Flash, Winter’s Tale), and age 19 (Perla Haney-Jardine/Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Spider-Man 3). I wouldn’t be surprised if Boyle took out his conducting baton again to rehearse these three actresses together. There is a continuity in physicality and intonation that is not often found in a character played by multiple actresses. The younger two, Moss and Sobo, even match the talent and complex emotions created by the situation we find in the older Haney-Jardine’s performance. It is rare to find child actors who are able to understand such intricate and conflicting emotions as presented in the character of Lisa and their performances lead one to think of early childhood work of such virtuosos like Jodi Foster, Christina Ricci and Dakota Fanning.
Katherine Waterston, Makenzie Moss
In many of my reviews you find me describing a great film in which one element stood out as superior or inferior, drawing focus to the individual pieces that make up an artistic whole. Often this keeps me from giving a movie a perfect score, as you can see in my interpretation of many of last year’s Best Picture nominees. Birdman received a 9 only because the thematic elements were pushed a little too hard and drew focus from (rather than supporting) an otherwise wonderful film. The Imitation Game earned a 9.5 due to nothing more than a slight inconsistency in the writing of Keira Knightley’s character. Boyhood was a phenomenal feat of filmmaking that only slipped to a 9.5 because Ellar Coltrane was just shy of being able to understand the complexities of his character at such a young age. With Steve Jobs, Danny Boyle has orchestrated all of the individual instruments that play in this film into a singly masterful, cohesive melody and earned this reviewers very first 10/10 rating for a feature film.
Steve Jobs was nominated for 2 2016 Academy Awards including Best Actor (Michael Fassbender), Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet)
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Steve Jobs Trailer
David 'n the Dark 