Who was Steve Jobs?

Most of the world knows him from watching one of many launch videos on YouTube, the iconic black turtleneck, the blue jeans, the sneakers, the glasses. But who was the man behind the genius on stage? What was his life like, his history?

That is what Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" seeks to express and explore.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin adapted the biography by Walter Isaacson into a rather idiosyncratic structure, especially for a biopic. Instead of the "cradle to grave" approach, the famed writer picked three big moments in Jobs' life and then had him interact with major personal dilemmas of the time.

The first section takes place in 1984 at the launch of the Macintosh, the second in 1988 during the launch of the Next computer and the final one in 1998 at the launch of Jobs' big success with the iMac.

In all three segments, the titan (played by Michael Fassbender) faces issues with his daughter Lisa who he initially rejects (as noted in a famed Time article), John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), Steve Wozniack (Seth Rogen), Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) and Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg). Each interaction plays on different themes of his life with his interactions with Sculley revolving around his adopted nature and his essentially displacing his "father figure." Hoffman is his confidant but also his moral compass, often pushing him to reconnect with his daughter; Herzfeld also serves a similar purpose, though he, like Wozniack, asks that Jobs also show respect for those below him in the company hierarchy. The threads all move in diverging directions, but keep the narrative focused and moving at a propulsive rate. Some will undoubtedly scoff at the operatic structure of the film and will even lambast the move toward a major catharsis in the final moments, but Boyle's direction keeps this film as honest as one could hope.

Stylistically Boyle is at his utmost here, shooting in three different formats to differentiate the periods. The first segment in 1984 is shot on 16mm while the 1988 sequence gets the 35mm treatment. The final era is shot on the Arri Alexa, the clean and slick digital look bringing all of the boiled up and hidden emotions to the fore. The musical score also gets a similar treatment with Daniel Pemberton altering the styles to fit their respective time periods.

Boyle's editing maintains his propulsive pace to match the slick camera movements of Alwin Kuchler. Each sequence gets a flashback that highlights the current conversation taking place. During the opening exchange between Wozniack and Jobs, we get another conversation showing the two coming up with their first project in a garage. Later on, Sculley and Jobs come to terms with one another while a flashback showcases the start of their relationship.

Fassbender admittedly looks nothing like Jobs, but this Shakespearean portrait requires no look-alikes to be effective. Fassbender's portrayal shows Jobs as an calculated ticking bomb in the opening stanza; it is a risky move to introduce the character but one that pays off as Jobs cools off and his cold heart slowly but surely melts. Yet the pointed nature of the man never quite disappears and his final confrontation with Wozniack shows the man at his most unyielding and combative.

Winslet is also fantastic as the warm counterpart to the methodic jobs, her emotions always running counter to his. There is a rather fine moment in the third act that lays bare her deep devotion to him, Winslet's eyes brimming with emotion in close-up. Some will take her Polish accent to task as it is arguably the most inconsistent thing in the entire movie -- her voice sounds American in the opening sequence and then gradually grows thicker as the film develops.

Stuhlbarg and Rogen are polar opposites as Jobs' immediate associates, Rogen upping the aggressive qualities in the early going while Stuhlbarg's jittery and nervous Hertzfeld transforms into a more self-assured man by the end. Katherine Waterston comes off as vulnerable and hurt in her first appearance before taking on a more vicious complexion in the second episode of the film.
Daniels' Sculley moves from a man just as cold as Jobs in the first act to one unhinged in the second. However, the third portrays him in a more nostalgic light, the tone of his delivery more somber and defeated. As portrayed in the film, Sculley's unraveling proves to be Jobs' opportunity for ascension and their confrontation in the middle proves to be the turning point for both.

"Steve Jobs" is not your traditional biopic but instead an operatic "backstage" look at the life of man well-known for his work in front of the proscenium. Those looking for "historical accuracy" might as well turn to the languid "cradle to grave" "Jobs" which stars Ashton Kutcher. This film however, in its pace, inventiveness and dynamism, is far more true to the spirit of one of the most exciting geniuses of our time.