Masterful Movie Making

Rating: 9/10 (23 October 2015)

LOVED Steve Jobs. Fassbender never misses a beat of the fast paced Sorkian repartee. Physically, he reminded me of a more youthful Jeremy Irons, laconic and restless, oddly both at ease with the environment he controls, and suspicious of it because it's not 100% fashioned in his image. The long walkie/talkie tracking shots, particularly those down corridors, seem just right to mirror his tunnel vision; and that decision to distinguish the acts with different film was brilliant – the first act is grainy, with a lot of saturated jewel tones, with a decidedly upbeat historical feel, when the second act switches from 16mm to 35mm, the emphasis on "focusing" on the new product line is visual as well as verbal, utter concentration, and the final digital act is crisp with more subdued colorsa lot of shades of gray. I noticed that the lighting brought out the hue changes of Fassbender's eyes; in the final act they were so steely they appeared silver. This film felt like nothing but nothing was left to chance, but it all unfolded naturally. The three acts fit together very well – the story was all of a piece, and although I had feared the father-daughter line would detract from the examination of Job's professional life, it was weaved in seamlessly, with perhaps just a tad overdoing in the final interaction between the two. Really nothing could have hit the broken part of Job's psyche – the consequences of the abandoned child – like the ambiguity of his parenthood.
The supporting cast was sublime. Daniels has read Sorkin's lines (in the Newsroom) so long now they seem to ooze out of him. Sculley came across as a very sympathetic character as well as an integral part of Job's business history. Daniels has that cynical-wise aura that is tempered by avuncular mannerisms. You really believed he loved the guy who got him fired, and that if had naturally had complex motives, the one that overwhelmingly won out was compassion. Seth Rogen, I think, was the perfect projection of the Steve Wozniak of our imaginations, based on what we have learned about him over the years. I read that Wozniak had a lot of input into how he would be portrayed, but nothing felt overly heroic or vengeful (and just the appropriate level of nerdy).This is the Wozniak I wanted to see in the film, fighting not for what was his, but what should have been shared – whether it was credit for his Apple II team or wanting 'open' products reflecting his conception of user friendliness, as opposed to Job's control mantra. Wozniak – the genius who would never dare tell anyone he knew what they wanted – everyone has to find that for herself. The philosophical differences on the open/controlled debate between Steve and Steve couldn't have been more finely drawn than if Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds had been set in a boxing ring. Michael Stulhbarg had some sweet scenes, and John Ortiz is starting to feel like an old friend every time he pops up.
But for me the player who really brought it was Winslet. Damnit, she looked so dowdy in the opening act all I could think of was Tilda Swinton's fanatic character in Snowpiercer, without the prosthetic teeth. But she grew more beautiful with every scene as she opened up the full marvel of Joanna Hoffman's roleand that was so much more than a Greek chorus of the better self she hoped for Jobs, but a brilliant, strategic, practical, and holistic woman in her own right. Winslet was a woman every wife, admin assistant, deputy will recognize; she's not just "behind her man", not just his "better half", not just his "cheerleader', but the source of his ability to do his best. That Jobs and Hoffman weren't romantically involved made the relationship no less intimate. She could walk away, she was not completely possessed by his vision and persona, her strength was what was needed to slowly wear down, like water dripping on a rock, the cage around his heart. There need to be AWARDS for Kate for this one.
I left feeling what I knew I would – that this is Sorkin's movie more than anyone's , even Fassbender's. The double-edged sword of his dialogues, his confrontational verve, his ability to mask considerable exposition beneath riveting conversation – the man is just the master of the intelligent, fast-paced script. I think anyone will want to see this again and again, for a missed line, for another glimpse at how a great writer carves the parameters of character, and fashions scenes to reveal them. This screenplay is more Sorkin than even The Social Network; in Steve Jobs it looks like he had the leeway to go full virtuoso, the recurring Sorkian riffs playing like prime Jimmy Page at Earls Court.