DVDs

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs screenshot

Steve Jobs DVD coverRELIANCE HOME VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT, Rs 599

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Michael Stuhlberg, Katherine Waterston, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels
Director: Danny Boyle

The second film on the living legend takes key points from the first film released about three years ago with Ashton Kutcher in the title role. Danny Boyle at the helm of affairs moves away from making it a biopic and uses a magnifying glass to catch into Jobs’ life and his product launches that made him what he was.

We are set in 1984 as Jobs (Michael Fassbender), marketing executive and confidant Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) and his friend and programmer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) struggle to get the Apple Macintosh to say “Hello” on its home screen. Besides his work, Jobs is also emotionally drained by the fact that his former girlfriend Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) is accusing him of making statements to a magazine about her personal life. Jobs also has a verbal spat with her over paternity of his 5-year-old daughter, Lisa, who he initially denounces.

All this happens while he confronts friends and co-workers in the minutes leading up to him walking on stage and presenting his new launches, namely, Apple Macintosh, the NeXT Computer and iMac G3. Joanna is on call for anything Jobs requires, be it trivial things like fixing a bow-tie, ironing a shirt, or in one impressive display: clicking a computer mouse.

We watch this walk and talk two-hour game unfold with shades of Jobs’ success and in some instances how he literally bullies Andy into making a Macintosh feature work just minutes before launch. Similarly, Jobs tries as much as he can to conceal his team behind the Apple II computer, despite the pleas of his friend and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) and his conversations with Michael Sculley (Jeff Daniels).

Fassbender displays good acting skills while playing the role of the Apple founder; he’s blunt and at the same time loving to his child, while Joanna as his assistant is at her very best, snoopy at times, trying to figure out the intriguing world of Jobs and enter into his personal space, too.

The movie credits note states that this is “based on the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson”. There are no moments that downplay the story, though at times the dialogue might drag a bit, but the story keeps you so engrossed that you really don’t mind it.

Bonus features include The Making of Steve Jobs.

Verus Ferreira is a music journalist for over three decades. He is the author of The Great Music Quiz Book and The Great Rock Music Quiz Book and the founder of Musicunplugged.in

Verus Ferreira

Verus Ferreira is a music journalist for over three decades. He is the author of The Great Music Quiz Book and The Great Rock Music Quiz Book and the founder of Musicunplugged.in