Steve Jobs - Film Review

Steve Jobs - Film Review

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Posted 2016-01-29 by Dianafollow
Apple has become a household name - not the one that keeps the doctor away but the one that has brought screens close. And as a homage to the man behind it, comes the biopic - Steve Jobs, keeping up Danny Boyle's reputation and joining the league of his thoughtfully directed movies (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours & Trainspotting). The movie is based on the Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson.



Every scene is saturated with the diligent character study of the man feared for his arrogance and revered by computer geeks around the globe. Michael Fassbender, though not in his cinematic appearance but in portraying the intrinsic nature of the Apple founder, brings Jobs to life. Dominating frame after frame, Fassbender bolsters the plot through his superb performance (worthy of the Oscar nomination).



Although the three big product launches of Jobs' career are the pivotal moments, it is the backstage happenings and evolution of the man in the core of it all that form the backbone of the movie. The story begins with preparations for the launch of Apple Macintosh in 1984. The voice simulation, the would-be hero of the product launch, fails annoying Jobs who throws an obnoxious threat of on-stage blame at engineer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg). Marketing executive Joanna Hoffman (noteworthily played by Kate Winslet) keeps the situation under control.





To top it up, Job's ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan turns up with their daughter Lisa. She berates him for a recent Time magazine interview where he stated that statistically 28% of American men could be Lisa's father. She complains that they get sparse financial assistance from him while his profit is in millions. Amidst all the mayhem, Jobs connects with Lisa over a MacPaint abstract drawing she made. Afterwards, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) meets Jobs requesting him to publicly acknowledge the role of Apple II. Jobs arrogantly dismisses the insistence. Meanwhile, finding the voice rectification time consuming, Hertzfeld suggests that they use Macintosh 512K as proxy, a suggestion Jobs finds agreeable. Just before the inauguration, Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) shows up backstage to toast the Macintosh launch and goes on to attribute Jobs' control freak nature to the fact that he was an adopted child.



Four years later, after Macintosh turns out to be a disaster, the board unanimously agrees on Jobs' removal from Apple for his adamance. Headstrong as Jobs is, he founds a new company called NeXT. It is 1988, the launch of NeXT computer and history repeats itself all over again. Jobs is still on bad terms with Chrisann whereas gets along fine, thought not intimate, with Lisa. Wozniak's requests regarding Apple II once again meet haughty disapproval. Joanna Hoffman continues to be Jobs' confidante and a constant source of support and encouragement.



Ten years have passed since NeXT was born. Apple has acquired it now and replaced Sculley with Jobs as the new CEO. 1998 is the year for introduction of iMac. Jobs has become a heart-throb among gadget lovers. But his personal relations are still strained. He chides Chrisann before Joanna and is upset with Lisa for letting her mother sell off the house he bought for them. Thereafter, a confrontation ensues between Jobs and Sculley with past discussions and arguments playing in flashback converging with the current situation. On the other hand Wozniak is persistent on getting the Apple II team recognized and ends up rebuking Jobs in front of the staff at the inauguration rehearsal, for his stubborn denial and lack of knowledge about technical intricacies.







Do the ripples between Jobs and Sculley smooth out? Will Jobs ever come to terms with parenthood? Does Lisa find acceptance from her father?

The audience gets a glimpse of the workings of the genius's mind and his personal ties from very close quarters. But it would be overstating to say that the film completely unravels the enigma called Steve Jobs.



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87499 - 2023-06-11 07:39:05

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