Compelling picture of a complicated genius.

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2015)

So, I just had the pleasure of seeing STEVE JOBS at the magnificent Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood last night... and I'm thrilled to say, it was absolutely brilliant.
Aaron Sorkin has outdone himself with an incredibly compelling script, structured around three crucial Apple product launches (each shot in 3 distinctive film formats) over the course of the visionary Jobs' storied career. Sorkin deftly manages to elevate the biopic past the genre's usual tired tropes to heights of Shakespearean high drama with his vivid characterizations of Jobs and a few key players in his complicated personal life, especially with his first daughter, Lisa.
The way Steve Jobs' troubled childhood shapes his difficult relationships and highly ambitious career later in life is portrayed with such disarming emotional truth that it finally offers us a realistic and likely accurate glimpse into the soul of such an elusive genius. He was, like all of us, a flawed human being, but now we can clearly see why he kept everyone at such a distance.
Danny Boyle's direction suits the material perfectly. His dizzyingly surreal style, with its dreamlike stream of consciousness imagery, adds greatly to the awe and wonder of the story... taking place mostly backstage before the famous product launch events, with a few brief, but meaningful flashbacks inserted at key moments throughout the film.
The four leads, it has to be said, are amazing as well. It doesn't matter that Michael Fassbender doesn't really look like Steve Jobs, because he embodies the man's spirit and persona so well, revealing a great depth of imperfect humanity behind a facade of perfectionism. Not surprisingly, Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels also give masterful performances, and seeing Seth Rogen bring such vulnerability and pathos as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is truly refreshing and a delight to watch. I see many Oscar nominations on the way...
Hopefully STEVE JOBS will begin a trend of biopics that put less emphasis on replicating the resemblance of famous figures and trying to portray as many events in their lives as possible and instead look to demystify the compelling journey and genuine emotional core that lie at the heart of every great story, fact or fiction.