Monday, July 11, 2016

Steve Jobs


Directed by Danny Boyle.

2015. Rated R, 122 minutes.
Cast:
Michael Fassbender
Kate Winslet
Seth Rogen
Jeff Daniels
Katherine Waterston
Michael Stuhlbarg
Sara Snook
Makenzie Moss
John Ortiz

We hang around Apple co-founder and eventual CEO Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) during three of the biggest moments of his career. All of them are product launches, open to the public. The first is the launch of the Macintosh, or Mac for short, in 1984. Second is the launch of the NeXT in 1988. Finally, is the unveiling of the iMac in 1998. At each of these events we see him backstage minutes before the show is to begin. While dealing with whatever last minute preparations before going onstage, he also deals with all sorts of personal and professional issues. On the personal side, the biggest topic is his relationship, or lack thereof, with his daughter Lisa (handled by three different actresses to portray the ages of 5, 9, and 19). With this also comes his dealings with her mother Chrisann (Katherine Waterston). On a professional level, it's mostly about his strained relationship with John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) who served as Apple CEO from 1983 to 1993. We also look at Steve's relationships with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) and Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg), one of the original members of the team that created the Mac. This side of the equation gets the occasional flashback to temporarily remove us from the backstage setting. Included in all of this, keeping his entire world from bursting at the seams, is his trusty marketing exec Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet).

There is greatness on this film's surface. It is technically proficient and just looks fantastic on the screen. Mostly muted colors make the occasional bursts of vividness really pop in our eyes. This even applies to the contrast in the clothing of Jobs, crisp and sharp whites and blacks, with that of others. In particular, it makes the not-so-crisp outfits worn by Crisann and Lisa feel that much dingier and frumpier. The actors are also remarkable. Fassbender commands the screen as surely as Jobs is said to command those around him. Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogen are both great in their roles, as is Michael Stuhlbarg. Katherine Waterston's performance has gone shamefully overlooked. Last, but certainly not least, Kate Winslet not only holds Jobs together as Hoffman, but she holds the entire film together. All of this combines to make Steve Jobs a fascinating watch.

Unfortunately, the film never goes beyond being merely fascinating. The problem might sound like an odd one, but it's entirely too much like its protagonist. Jobs comes across as cold and calculating as the technology for which he serves as the face. The movie feels the same way. The continuous backstage-at-a-huge-event setting makes everything feel hectic and impersonal. The issues with his daughter feel as if it's just one more thing to deal with before getting in front of the audience. His relationship with Wozniak is reduced to Woz just showing up at these events begging Jobs to say thank you to the people who created the Apple II. Jobs-Scully is a soap opera tale of betrayal and back-biting. His relationship with Hoffman feels rather ambiguous even though the film takes great pains to make sure we know it's platonic. Despite all the great acting, with nothing to anchor the characters on the screen in our hearts it feels like just that, acting. When we get a comparatively cuddly Jobs during the third act, at least towards most of his colleagues, it doesn't feel earned. We just have to accept it's something he learned in the ten years between this and the prior act. This still leaves us with a major showdown with Lisa which feels too neatly resolved. It may really have happened that way, but still comes off far too easy on the screen. In the end, it's not a bad movie, but it's one that I could never really get into. It's a cold, distant film about a cold, distant man.

20 comments:

  1. I think you make a lot of good points, some of them I hadn't really considered. Still I liked the film overall. Can't remember my exact rating but it impressed me more than I expected. Yet I find that I have little desire to sit down and watch it again.

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    1. Liking it, but not ever caring to see it again is exactly what I was trying to get across. Thanks!

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  2. I liked this a lot more than I expected to also. I thought it was funny though - they had a commercial for this on the Mr. Robot DVD and then the very first pilot episode takes some pretty direct shots at him.

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    1. Ha! That is funny. I might have to watch Mr. Robot, now.

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  3. Ultimately, I gotta check this one out, but your review has further chilled my already cool feelings toward it. The cast sounds awesome, and even if it's a quick glance, a look at Jobs' life must be fascinating, right?

    This is probably gonna be one of those movies I see a decade from now and think, shit, why didn't I watch this sooner?

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    1. That makes sense. If you do decide to watch a movie about the man go with this one and skip the Ashton Kutcher version.

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  4. I do think it's an amazing film as Michael Fassbender was great as Steve Jobs. After all, at least's not that awful movie with Ashton "Kettlehead" Kutcher.

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    1. It's far better than the Kutcher film. I'll give it that.

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  5. I think the best work for this was observant but more in the sense that the movie watched these people go through things than involved the audience in them. Much as you said it's a cold distant movie. I didn't really connect with Fassbender's performance which I guess is the desired effect since Jobs seemed a rather unknowable man, and quite frankly the little we do know of him made me not want to find out more. He seemed a bastard who you didn't want to spend any time with.

    Loved Kate Winslet's work though. She made the movie endurable.

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    1. Observant is a great word. It really did just watch these people as opposed to involving us in the story.

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  6. There is SO much to love about Steve Jobs, but I always felt at arm's length. It's one of those films that I admire/appreciate more than I actually enjoy. I'm not even sure I can articulate what it was I didn't like about it - the acting is great, I love the three-act structure, and the choice to shoot and score each act in such different modes is striking and different. But SOMETHING was missing. Kate Winslet gave far and away the best TRUE Supporting Actress performance last year, but you're right that Waterston has gone unfairly unheralded. She's really good too in a very limited amount of screen time.

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    1. Warmth is what's missing. There is just none here. It's as if the movie pushes you away on purpose. Haven't decided if I will give KW my win for Supporting, but she certainly is strong. Ditto for Waterston.

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  7. If DiCaprio wasn't so darn overdue, Fassbender probably would've ran away with the Best Actor Oscar. He really commands the screen.

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    1. I dunno about that. Of course, I haven't even seen The Revenant, yet. Hope to see it this weekend. It's not that Fassbinder was bad, because he wasn't. In fact, he was great. I'm just reserving judgement until I get to see more of last year's noms.

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  8. I think this film gave me more insight into Steve Jobs the futurist than Steve Jobs the human being. I've always found Apple technology annoying because it isn't compatible with anything that is not Apple but after watching this film I had a real appreciation for what Jobs was trying to do. I think Fassbender was amazing and he truly portrayed the arrogance and genius that men like Jobs often have. I think the script and overall style of the film was a little bit too similar to The Social Network and that Aaron Sorkin didn't really stretch himself here.

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    1. Your first sentence is exactly right. I agree Fassbender was great. However, I felt his work was limited by the material. Excellent point about the similarities to The Social Network.

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  9. I appreciate this film but I don't know if I love it. I thought the performances were good, but yeah, there are things that bothered me. The showdown with Lisa that you mentioned, which indeed feels to neatly resolved, is one of them.

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    1. Good to know I'm not alone on this one. It's okay as what it is, but it could be so much more.

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  10. I haven't seen this and I was planning on it, but I keep hearing the same stuff about Steve Jobs. I guess I really wanted to see it since Fassbender is my favorite actor, it's a shame Boyle didn't do more with it.

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    1. The performances are great, so if you see it, see it for that. But yeah, I expected Boyle, and Sorkin, to do more with it.

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