Hagiography is a slippery slope to travel down when making a biopic.It’s a slope that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin doesn’t stumble down often; his portraits of tend to be fairly down to earth or at least incredibly honest, almost to an objective fault. ‘Steve Jobs,’ the latest from director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Sorkin, falls into the latter category as the curtain is ripped off of the man behind Apple with style and dramatic grace.
The film follows Jobs (Michael Fassbender) as he prepares for three of the largest product launches of his career: 1977’s Macintosh, 1988’s NeXT, and 1998’s iMac. Along the way, the extremely logical and alienating figure cuts his way into the hearts of his former partner Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen), his faithful assistant Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), his boss John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), and his one-time flame (Katherine Waterson) and the daughter he refuses to claim.
‘Steve Jobs’ doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to Jobs’ numerous flaws. The neurotic egomania and his sardonically logical view of the world are on full display here, but the performances Boyle and Sorkin get out of their cast (Fassbender’s Jobs is a coldly efficient way to keep our eyes glued to the screen) help keep this firmly in the space between cinematic assassination and worshipping at the cult of Apple.
