Steve Jobs was not a man given to humility. But in a rare moment of self-reflection during Michael Fassbender’s captivating interpretation, he admits to his estranged daughter, “I’m poorly made”.
Danny Boyle’s film is quite the opposite: surprisingly human for a movie focused on disconnection, “Steve Jobs” is a foot-stomping, hand-clapping triumph, only limited by your own desire to find out more than Aaron Sorkin’s clever script will allow.
This is a maelstrom of people and events, with Jobs orchestrating the chaos from the middle.
We start in 1984 and take in the backstage drama of three iconic product presentations up until 1998.
By Jobs’ side stands his “work wife” Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), who panders to his every whim, but equally acts as his absent conscience. Jobs refuses to acknowledge his daughter, citing a ridiculous deduction that her mother (the superb Katherine Waterson) could have slept with 28% of the men in America.
He has to juggle conflicts with Seth Rogen’s Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who only seeks recognition for his money-making B-team, and his boss, John Sculley, who eventually ends up being the man who fires the turtleneck wearing perfectionist. Not to mention worrying that the Macintosh won’t say “hello” during its big launch, and that one of his designs is 1% offset from being a perfect cube. He was a complicated man.
