Steve Jobs – 8.5

Instead of a biopic, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin tell the story of Apple’s founder in three parallel days of product launches. Instead of recreating reality, those days are representative, telescoped, dramatically heightened. Each involves a Jobs confrontation with 1) his daughter Lisa and her mother; 2) his cofounder Steve Wozniak; 3) his corporate parental figure John Sculley; 4) his creative team; and, throughout, 5) his marketing executive Joanna Hoffman. Through these confrontations we experience the strange but consistent personality of Steve Jobs, and through these confrontations we see all five relationships change. Whether any or all of this is accurate – despite being based on Walter Isaacson’s book – didn’t matter to me. The story is presented as a drama, and as a drama it is superb. The dialogue – no surprise – is fast-paced, impossibly clever and devoid of fat. The acting, especially by Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet (whom I didn’t even recognize), is A+, Oscar-worthy. The context – the creation of the world’s most important and familiar company – adds enormous relevance. And I’m not ashamed to admit that in the final scene between Jobs and Lisa, I couldn’t stop my tears.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *