Living/working with a genius is no easy task,
as is made very clear in the film Steve
Jobs. Aaron Sorkin wrote the
screenplay based on Walter Isaacson’s book with the same title. From the way the dialog is written in
the film, it clearly reflects Sorkin’s style of rapid-fire conversation and
arguments that speed by too fast to give them any thought. In fact, that is much of the film, with
Steve (Fassbender) having no-holds-barred repetitive arguments with his closest
associate, Joanna (Winslet), his daughter Lisa and her mother Chrisann, his
creative partner Wozniak (Rogen), board chair Sculley (Daniels), and many, many
others. Sorkin’s mark is also in
snappy one-liners: “The very
nature of people is something to be overcome.” “Things don’t become so because you say so.” And the best, spoken by the grown-up
Lisa about the new iMac “looking like the inside of Judy Jetson’s Easy Bake
Oven.”
From the beginning, we get the impression that
for Jobs, it’s all about him. He
has a maddening way of responding to an assertion with an argument a few
degrees off the topic. To his
credit, however, he apparently developed some insight into himself and made
some positive changes across time.
The film covers only the period of time when he
and his team are launching the first Macintosh product (1984) up to the
introduction of the iMac (1998).
In between, Steve was fired by his board and started new companies, but
then rejoined Apple later. Time is
marked by switching back and forth between three product launches and Jobs’
relationship with his daughter, whom he initially denied until he saw an aspect
of himself in her (her facility with a computer at age 5). This back-and-forth between personal
and professional at the nerve-wracking times of launches was not a good choice
on the part of the filmmakers; it’s too frenetic.
Fassbender seamlessly captures the character he
plays, and I was most impressed with his skill in showing Jobs at his most
sensitive, when someone (usually Joanna, but also Sculley) gives him a
perspective on himself that he is ripe for or touches him emotionally, as when
his young daughter Lisa (Moss) spontaneously gives him a hug. He grows silent, withdraws into
himself, and almost—but not quite—sheds a tear. Other times, when someone is railing against him, his face
is completely impassive.
Winslet is critical in helping carry this film
and we admire her art and skill, as well as her character Joanna (a composite
of three women), who was probably key in holding Jobs together and keeping him
grounded. She was just what he
needed in smarts, friendship, emotional support, and basic values, which he
sometimes seemed to lack. Jeff
Daniels and Seth Rogen in supporting roles epitomize the professional struggles
Jobs had with his colleagues, and clearly illustrate the ambivalence that was
characteristic of all of his relationships shown in the film.
I found the film very interesting. Despite having some motivation to read
Isaacson’s well-received book, a New York Times best seller, I actually never
did. Hopefully, the film is a good
rendition of it, showing a truly remarkable man who played a significant role
in bringing so many people to the technological age we’re in, but who had his
share of human faults. Amazon says
he “revolutionized six industries:
personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing,
and digital publishing.” Wow!
A tale of Apple well told.
